] 

1 n 

1 


[ 

lulifll 









..-■.. • .- : v s.r 




The Crucifixion of Public Opinion 



From the American Point of View 

By 

S. IVOR STEPHEN 



Profusely Illustrated 



Published by 

THE NEUTRALITY PRESS. 
CHICAGO 

1916 



J\5Z3 



COPYRIGHTED 1916 
8T 

S. IVOR STEPHEN 



A 



oSP 



PRINTED IN THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



MflR -6 1916 

CU428105 




To the immortal memory and sublime spirits of 

(Beorge Washington, 

Oljomas Jefferson, 

anb ^Abva\)am ^Lincoln 

this great triumvirate of American patriots, 
fearless, sincere, and unfettered fighters for the 
American ideals of Liberty, Freedom, Justice, 
and Equality, this humble volume is most rev- 
erently dedicated by 

The Author. 




" r i 1 HE United States must be 
neutral in fact as well as in 
name during these days that are 
to try mens souls. We must be 
impartial in thought as well as in 
action, must put a curb upon our 
sentiments as well as upon every 
transaction that might be con- 
strued as a preference of one party 
to the [struggle before another/' 

X#oo6row Libert. 

Washington, August 18, 191^. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Chapter. 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

xxxrv. 

XXXV. 
XXXVI. 



Page. 

What Is the Press ? : '•:••• 13 

Absurdity of News • • • 15 

Truth in Journalism 1? 

Hotbed of Toryism • 2l 

No Muzzles for Americans 23 

The Headline Ananias 24 

Attack on Liege 2 8 

Traitorous Italy 35 

"Offensive Victories" 37 

Crown Prince and Press Bullets 40 

The Kaiser 42 

The Kaiser, a Shining Example of Labor, Prayer and 

Purpose 44 

T. R 47 

Hyphen Defies Roosevelt 50 

Francis Joseph 1 52 

Fish Stories 53 

Dum-Dum Bullets 56 

Russian Debacle 57 

Louvain 64 

The Cathedral of Rheims 67 

The Battle of Lodz ?° 

Textbooks 71 

Zeppelins & Zeppelies 74 

'•Kitchener, the Butcher" 77 

British Atrocities 79 

"Remember the Baralong" 82 

Harper's Weekly 85 

"Who Said Rats?" 88 

Lusitania 89 

Arabic ^ 2 

Dollar Humanity 9 *> 

Moral Neutrality 98 

Presidential Powers 100 

A Cabinet of Nobodies 104 

Are We Afraid of England ? 107 

"Chartered Liars" H° 

7 



TABLE OF CONTENTS— Continued 



Chapter. Page. 

XXXVII. England's Debt to the American Press 115 

XXXVIII. Vindications 118 

XXXIX. The Atrocious Cossack 120 

XL. The Horror of Russian Rule 123 

XLI. "Poor Little Belgium" 125 

XLII. The Cause of the War 128 

XLIII. Belgians and the Congo 130 

XLIV. Tommy Atkins Wants Socks 134 

XLV. "The Female of the Species" 135 

XLVI. Edith Cavell 138 

XLVII. The American Janus 144 

XLVIII. Look Who's Here! 147 

XLIX. Perfidious Albion 151 

L. Wilhelm, the Dauntless 153 

LI. "Christian" England 155 

LII. Misuse of "Old Glory" 160 

LIII. The Hearst Papers 163 

LIV. England, Destroyer of Nations and Commerce 166 

LV. Doping Uncle Sam 172 

LVI. The Real Menace Among the Hyphens 176 

LVII. The Real Danger 179 

LVIII. England's "Big Stick" 182 

LIX. England, Our Enemy 185 

LX. The Loan 186 

LXI. The "Billet-Doux" to England . 188 

LXII. Big Words— That's All! 194 

LXIII. " The Crack in the Bell 197 

LXIV. Poor Little Greece 200 

LXV. Champions 203 

LXVI. "Amerika Ueber Alles" 206 

LXVII. Erin Go Bragh! 211 

LXVIII. "If You See It in the Sun, It's So" 215 

LXIX. Not Yet, But— 216 

LXX. Editor Jefferson 218 

LXXI. Sentimental Dr. Eliot 220 

LXXII. Dr. Constantin Dumba 222 

LXXIII. Journalism a la "Mud" 224 

LXXIV. Americans First and Last 225 



Preface 




T 



The Author. 



HE contents of this volume have 
been delivered in lecture form in 
several cities of the United States. 
The lectures have met with such uni- 
versal reception and approbation that the 
lecturer and respectively the author, 
deemed it his patriotic duty to put 
his lecture in book form and make 
its contents known and accessible to the 
patriotic citizens of this country who 
believe in the doctrines as embodied in 
the speeches, writings and deeds of our 
great American presidents, George Wash- 
ington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jack- 
son and Abraham Lincoln. 

The author of this impretentious volume claims no credit 
for originality of its contents, as these were gathered, collected, 
culled and reprinted from sources more authoritive arid authen- 
tic, more competent and weighty, than any personal opinion or 
utterance could have conveyed to the average American reader 
who bases his patriotism on the real principles of democracy, on 
the real ideals of American Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Equality, 
and Fair Play. 

The writings of our illustrious president, Thomas Jefferson, 
have given the author particular inspiration in the preparation 
of this book, but contemporary writers, authors, and editors, 
American as well as foreign, have with their writings, speeches 
and comments, greatly aided the author in presenting the issue 
for which the writer of this book — in purely American spirit — 
is breaking the lance. 

— 9 — 



To Mr. Jeremiah A. O'Leary, President of The American 
Truth Society and a fearless champion of American rights, the 
author is especially grateful for the assistance given to him in 
preparation of his material. 

The writings, opinions and comments of the talented and 
brilliant editors of the "Fatherland" and respectively of the 
virile publication "Issues and Events," both intrepid champions 
of the creed "America First" and American liberty and free- 
dom from the tyranny of English dictation, have been a great 
stimulus and help in compiling this volume. 

The author wishes also to acknowledge his thanks for the 
valuable material which he found in the writings of such eminent 
and famous English writers and essayists as George Bernard 
Shaw, Aleister Crowley, Frank Harris and others. 

Wherever it was possible to give credit for an article, opin- 
ion and historical data as reprinted in this book, it is given 
here. In instances where the source of information and quota- 
tions could not be ascertained the writer herewith gratefully 
acknowledges the material so gained and used and presents this 
volume to the great patriotic reading commonwealth of the 
United States with the earnest hope and desire that the con- 
tents of this book will serve as a lesson, as a sermon, as enlight- 
enment for those who — misguided by an unpatriotic, anglophile, 
hence un-American press, and a mercenary inclined clique of 
American plutocracy have taken a stand and viewpoint in the 
great crisis — that is raging now in Europe — contrary to all prin- 
ciples, creed and ideals that are typified in the immortal per- 
sonalities of our three greatest Americans, Washington, Jeffer- 
son and Lincoln. 

American hearts, believing in these three great figures of 
American history will throb and beat in unison with the purpose 
of this book — Americans, accepting, following and promulgating 
the sham patriotism of the hirelings and "chartered liars" of 
a capitalistic anglophile press, and repudiating the doctrines 
and ideals for which a Washington, a Jefferson and a Lincoln 
fought, do not deserve to live under the protection of the Stars 

— 10 — 



and Stripes, nor to have a place in the sun which shines upon 
the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. 

The author of this volume has endeavored to sustain his 
contention and plea, "Justice for the Teutons," with witnesses 
of such American patriotism which founded, protected and 
maintained our country of these United States, with witnesses 
who represent the greatest and by all of us Americans — native 
or "hyphenated" — universally worshiped figures of America's 
glorious history, also with witnesses taken from the "dear 
cousins" camp, as not one single Teutonic or Hungarian writer 
or authority is quoted in this volume in the defense of the 
Teutonic cause. 

The befuddled, prejudiced and piteously ignorant mind of 
the anglophile editorial pen which accuses some of the publica- 
tions printed in the English language of Teutonic tendencies, 
by the same false logic, might just as well proclaim "Old Glory" 
to be a Prussian regimental standard. 

The crucifixion of Public Opinion in America by some of tlie 
Press lias been the most flagrant violation of all laws of neu- 
trality. 

For these reasons the author submits his plea for "Justice 

for the Teutons" to the supreme jury of the American reading 
public with the trust and confidence that after all the nation 
which a Washington, a Jefferson, a Madison, a. Lincoln, a Grant, 
a Cleveland choose for Uncle Sam's friend must be the nation 
for Americans to stand by — and the nation which a Washing- 
ton, Jefferson, Lincoln and all our other patriotic and great 
American presidents fought as a foe must be and still remains 
Uncle Sam 's foe, notwithstanding the cry of the distressed ' ' dear 
cousin" and opportunist that "blood is thicker than water." 

THE AUTHOR. 



11 — 



CHAPTER I 

What Is the Press? 

The public hears much about the liberty of the press from 
the press. The sacredness of" the freedom of the press is much 
dinned into its ears — by the press. But it hears little of the 
responsibility of the press — from the press. It hears little con- 
demnation of the defamatory and destructive misrepresentation 
practiced by the press, little criticism of false reports, flaunted 
ignorance, news discolored by interest, canards, "it is alleged/' 
and the like — from the press. Every newspaper has an ax to 
grind ; at least one — sometimes many. And the public must do 
the turning of the grindstone. As a matter of fact : what is the 
press ? 

Whoever has the price of type and presses may issue a sheet 
of alleged information and sell it to the public, and it may con- 
tain anything which his self-interest dictates. If he takes the 
precaution not to actually libel an individual, he escapes all re- 
sponsibility, and the only control which is exercised over his 
operations is that exercised by his readers, who, if they like not 
his "news" or the opinions he expresses, may discontinue the 
purchase of his paper. 

Otherwise he may print what he will; he may misrepresent 
facts willfully or carelessly; he may distort and exaggerate; he 
may suppress ; he may publish canards and inventions ; he may 
pour out an unending stream of falsehood and deceptions; he 
may discolor the truth, play upon prejudice, and poison, in any 
way he sees fit, the stream of public opinion. 

All this he may do in the name of "freedom of the press" 
and none may stop him. It may be well inquired by what virtue 
does such sacredness inhere in the ownership of type and print- 
ing presses? What sets apart the newspaper owner from the 
rest of mankind and permits him unbridled license ? 

Such grotesque perversions of liberty must finally undermine 
the whole structure of liberty, for when liberty is so much 
abused, when liberty ceases to mean, not the safeguarding of 
proper rights, but the permission, the license to assail the help- 
less and to pervert the public mind, some day overdrastic regu- 
lation will be demanded which will in turn be subversive of 
liberty. Thus one extreme breeds another, and the policy of 

13 



14 NEUTRALITY 

absolute and unrestricted freedom to whoever puts type to paper 
will bring the extreme of regulation when the reaction sets in. 

Regulation of the press, however, is an obnoxious procedure, 
when those who have the power to regulate are perfectly free 
to exercise whatever regulation they see fit. Here again liberty 
becomes license and the press suffers, and with it those who are 
entitled to know the truth about events of concern to themselves 
as members of the social body, for suppression is equally as dan- 
gerous as exaggeration, both being forms of irresponsibility. 

The public does not realize the enormous power of the press 
to misguide public opinion, when it determines to do so. The 
average reader imagines that public opinion, as far as it is 
formed by newspapers, is formed by the editorial columns of the 
papers. This is an entirely inadequate view. The editorials of 
a newspaper, in fact, have very little force in moulding public 
opinion, for the reason that readers in general only read edi- 
torials which are in accord with their own existing views. This 
applies particularly to the papers in large cities where the read- 
ers are of higher intelligence. 

When editorials controvert the convictions of the reader, the 
reader ceases to read them and buys a paper which reflects in 
its editorials his own opinions. It is in its news columns that the 
newspaper has its greatest power over public opinion. Espe- 
cially is this the case in America. If it publishes as a fact, for 
example, the " news' ' that German soldiers are guilty of out- 
rages, public opinion takes an anti-German tinge far more 
quickly than that from any number of anti-German editorials. 
The fact that no such outrages have in reality occurred is un- 
known to the readers. Their "public opinion" is consequently 
based upon the falsehood circulated as a truth. 

A continued policy of misrepresentation results in the forma- 
tion of a more or less violently marked ' ' public opinion, ' ' which 
is a great force for evil, since it is acting upon false premises. 
The public thus acts contrary to reason and truth, and to its own 
ultimate disadvantage, sidetracked by editorial self-interest. It 
is not only, however, in actual falsehoods that newspapers pol- 
lute public opinion, but in importance and tone given to the 
published matter. 

This is accomplished by means of headlines of a sensational 
and misleading character, by the use of different sizes of type, 
and in the relative prominence and location on the pages of the 
paper of the various items. A headline is the greatest achieve- 
ment of American imaginative art. It is the perfect flower of 



NEUTRALITY 15 

fancy! Like a nebulous nothing floating in the midst of no- 
where, it is without meaning or significance in itself and inno- 
cent of relationship to anything else — least of all the news which 
follows. 

Its only importance is the strange fascination it exercises 
over the average citizen. One glance at a headline, and, dazzled 
by its garish charms, he sees not truth hidden in her corner, 
or cares not if he sees. The manipulation of these devices, 
though unconscionable enough before the war, has become so 
flagrant since that even the editors themselves appear to sicken 
of it. The public, nevertheless, having its avenues to the truth 
largely closed, cherishes its views founded on falsehood and 
lives in its little newspaperly created fool's paradise of misin- 
formation. 

The examples of the headlines with its "news" given in this 
volume, or, rather, lack of news that is "dished up "to the 
public of this country through the press, which regards its own 
freedom with such awe, will serve, to demonstrate how little re- 
spect the press has for truth and how ready it is to deceive its 
own readers. The publishing of misinformation does not stop at 
news alone, but also includes the publication of fake photo- 
graphs. 



CHAPTER II 
Absurdity of News. 



"War has just been declared. 

The American press seems to think that everything is topsy- 
turvy in Europe, and that there is no reason why it should not 
let itself go and join, metaphorically, at least, in the awful pan- 
demonium reigning on the other side of the water. One's brain 
fairly reeled before the staggering array of aosurdities that 
stared one in the face, when one tried to get an idea of the war 
from an American standpoint. 

The war caught thonsands of Americans in Europe. Censor- 
ship was strict in European papers, and Americans were nat- 
urally "mad" for news from their country. They wanted to 
see what their own press had to say in the matter. The nearest 
and the most easily available paper, the Paris edition of the 



16 NEUTRALITY 

New York Herald, gave most Americans the first inkling and 
the first bitter taste in regard to the attitude of the home press. 

It must be confessed that all blushed before they were 
through! One read in this paper — in the very first days of the 
war — that the Germans had terrible defeats in Silesia; the 
Crown Prince had been murdered (for about the sixth time) ; 
Vienna is full of smallpox and in a panic appealing to the aged 
Emperor for peace ; cholera was raging in Berlin ; every German 
from sixteen to fifty-five years of age had been draftd into the 
army; the German soldiers, starving and exhausted, were re- 
volting against their officers ; the officers were a drunken, carous- 
ing crowd, kicking and whipping their men ; Hungary revolting ; 
the Magyars roasting their Slav brethren alive, and all such 
rot! 

It seemed that particularly the English-speaking New York 
press hurled itself like vultures upon Germany. There was no 
Belgian invasion then and no Louvain. French aviators had 
flown across the German border and dropped bombs on two un- 
defended German cities. The German Emperor had given 
France and Russia two days of grace to consider whether they 
wanted war or not. 

But there was no holding back the New York press. As there 
were no German atrocities to record, they created them. Glar- 
ing headlines stretched across the first page announcing that 
German soldiers were killing American tourists in the streets of 
Berlin, and American women were stripped of their clothing and 
publicly exhibited at railway stations by German officers. 

With this was linked a policy of keeping the American people 
in ignorance of what was actually transpiring on the battle- 
field. The press informed the public that the German war ma- 
chine had gone to pieces, that the German army was battering 
out its brains against the forts of Liege, where 20,000 Teutons 
had found their graves at the hands of "the brave Belgians in 
one day." 

The facts were that the Liege forts had long been reduced 
and the Germans were marching victoriously upon Brussels and 
sweeping all before them. But in the columns of the New York 
press appeared, day after day, the same devoted headlines an- 
nouncing Belgian victories, with full particulars how the forts 
were still holding out against the invaders. Then came Louvain ! 

The Berlin atrocities against harmless American travelers 
were suddenly relegated to oblivion, and the great sympathetic 
heart of America was made to throb with pity for the poor peo- 



NEUTRALI T V 17 

pie of Louvain, who were "ruthlessly slaughtered by the Ger- 
man barbarians. ' ' 

It is an axiom that a lie will travel miles while truth is put- 
ting on its boots. It was evident after the second day of the war 
that the American public opinion was to be systematically 
drugged into a state of comatose receptivity to hostile repres- 
sions of Germany and the Germans. 

That serious, self-respecting Americans felt ashamed, hu- 
miliated, is but mildly expressing their sentiments. It didn't 
take them long to see that the press of New York City was in a 
veritable orgy of cant! "Right" struggling gallantly against 
'armed might!" as the headlines cried, "against tyranny, 
against barbarism!" The Allies put their puny force against 
Hi. -Hordes of 1111118!" 

Who wouldn't feel humiliated over the impossible conglom- 
eration of nonsense which was and is being dished out by many 
of our best papers and magazines regarding this world-war. It 
is all very well for Americans to be proud of the freedom of their 
press, but no particular credit redounds to them if they allow 
this freedom to degenerate into unbridled license. "It's better 
not to know so much than to know so many things what ain't 
so," as the saying goes. 

CHAPTER III 
Truth in Journalism. 

The late Joseph Pulitzer, proprietor and editor of the New 
York World, once said: "Accuracy is to a newspaper what 
virtue is to a woman." Carrying out the simile, the journalist, 
like Caesar's wife, should be above suspicion. Accuracy, as Mr. 
Pulitzer denned it, meant more than conforming exactly to truth 
or to a. standard. To him it meant a passionate devotion to those 
ideals of conduct which inspire men to think noble thoughts, to 
do things worth doing for the pure joy of service. 

"Truth," then, is the motto that should be emblazoned on 
the shield of the student of journalism. And when he comes to 
sit at your feet in the Interpreter's House, to learn from you 
how to apply the motto, will you not say to him : ' ' First of all, 
to thine ownself be true and it must follow, as the night the 
day, thou can'st not then be false to any man." 

Newspaper men ought to remember the words of the great 
journalist, says "The Editor and Publisher," who taught that 



18 NEUTEALITY 

it wasn't enough, to refrain from publishing fake news, not 
enough to take ordinary care to avoid mistakes, and that any 
publishers who could do no better should be ashamed to own a 
paper. This man, with his big heart, that understood all, be- 
cause he had suffered, stood always for clear white honesty in 
all departments of the newspaper business. He made sure of 
only one thing, that he was right, and then he went ahead, re- 
gardless of consequences. 

To what extent his son and heir, the present editor of the 
New York World, has lived up to the teachings of his father, this 
book will try to show. The attitude of the New York World in 
this war is so much more astonishing, as Pulitzer was a Hun- 
garian of Jewish faith, and his son, therefore, is the son of a 
Hungarian Jew, of which he ought to feel proud. 

The average American newspaper reader, after reading such 
headlines: "German Atrocities in Belgium," "Women and 
Children Wantonly Maimed," "Red Cross Nurses Have Their 
Feet and Hands Cut Off," "Towns Sacked and Burned," 
' ' Prussians Bite Off Noses of Servian Soldiers, ' ' and looks forth 
upon the welter of confusion in which the world's greatest war 
has involved the civilization of Europe, apparently must be 
growing more and more bewildered. 

The average American reader's swift impression was based 
entirely upon sympathy with the victims of the horrors of war, 
and those victims were placed very conspicuously in the Amer- 
ican eye through the accident of geographical position. The 
American has been stirred by tales of atrocity in the eastern as 
well as the western theatre of this conflict, tales which revealed 
helpless women and children as the chief sufferers from sav- 
agery. These tales, though unfounded and unverified, created 
sympathy. 

But sympathy, while creditable as an impulse, is of less im- 
portance than a judicial attitude of mind in determining the 
relation of facts to one another, when those facts determine the 
supreme crisis in the annals of humanity. 

When one possesses the essential facts underlying this war in 
Europe one can bestow sympathy intelligently and effectively. 
It's easy to appreciate perfectly the effect upon the American 
mind of the tales of the horror with which the world has been 
filled throughout the first few weeks of the war by some of the 
press. Americans understand the attitude of their newspapers 
in the United States toward weaker nations and helpless peoples. 



NEUTRALITY 19 

One realizes the sanctity in the American mind of treaty 
obligations. These considerations account to all of us, to some 
extent, for that generous impulse which ranged Americans on 
the side that first presented its case, and presented it with rare 
cunning, preventing the other side giving his version by cutting 
off all his cable communications. 

The sincerity of this impulse caused Americans, in fact, to 
forget for a time even the great inconveniences they endured 
from the economic consequences of so great a struggle. There 
was a natural anxiety for hosts of relatives and friends exiled 
in the theatre of war. These things made their impression. 
Profounder, however, was the impression growing out of the 
moral factors in the case. 

The people of the United States asked themselves: "Who 
could be responsible for such a crime against humanity as was 
comprised in the outbreak of the war? Whose overpowering 
ambition took the world back to Napoleonism?" 

The writer will endeavor to show how heavily all the avail- 
able evidence was made to tell against Germany. Foremost as 
the self-appointed champion of international honor stood Eng- 
land, protesting against an attitude that made a solemn treaty 
' ' a mere scrap of paper. ' ' Russia was introduced next as ' l the 
disinterested friend of helpless little Servia. ' ' Austria-Hungary 
has despatched "a provocative ultimatum." France, wounded 
already by the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, was invaded ' ' to promote 
a fresh scheme of spoliation." 

The Great Powers might have been cast for parts in a tragedy 
by Schiller, so dramatic were the values. The "heavy villian" 
was invariably Germany. The explanation is simple. England 
had constituted herself stage manager, taking the precaution to 
give Germany a silent part by the obvious expedient, as stated 
above, of cutting her cable communication. 

The device might have failed but for the London censor. All 
that reached him from Berlin was conscientiously edited or con- 
scientiously suppressed. America was spoon-fed with English 
versions of whatever Germany had to say for herself. Judg- 
ment, in the first few weeks of the war, went almost by default ; 
at any rate, it was based on sympathy rather than upon facts 
judicially ascertained. 

The entire press of the United States seemed to be under the 
vassalage of the English censor, and particularly the New York 
press has seen fit, on account of its capitalistic relations, to stim- 
ulate, produce and glory in the creation of a great deal of rabid 



20 NEUTRALITY 

anti-German sentiment. The sentiment was artificial and mostly 
"newspaper talk." For the sake of discussion, it might be said 
that there has been two distinct parties in the United States, 
the British, or War Party, and the Peace Party. With the Brit- 
ish, or War Party, seemed to be allied a large amount of finan- 
cial interests and this capitalistic pressure has been brought to 
bear through their accustomed channels on the Metropolitan 
press. 

The press, supposedly the powerful instrument for spreading 
the truth, became, in the hands of a few unscrupulous persons, 
a tool for the dissemination of false statements which had no 
parallel. One realized this forcibly in the war news of the 
daily papers. 

Despicable, however, as the use of the press for spreading 
false reports may be, it is almost harmless compared with the 
attempts to shape the public opinion of whole nations by lies 
cunningly planned and systematically circulated. Oscar Wilde 
once wrote an article on ■ * The Art of Lying. ' ' Well, his coun- 
trymen have made great progress in this art since his time! 

England had a great deal of financial interest in the United 
States, and, as mortgage and bond holders, they were able to 
dictate the policies of some newspapers. 

The moneyed men are seldom men of courage. What 
pains them most is the loss of a few dollars. Generally 
speaking, the capitalists have backed England, and if Eng- 
land should lose in this war they would lose their cherished 
dollar. England did with money what money could do, She 
and her agents did all in their power to stimulate anti-German 
sentiment in the United States, and the press of the Metropolis 
was the best factor to use for their purpose. 

Mr. Wm. J. Bryan, ex-Secretary of State, speaking at a great 
mass meeting in Madison Square Garden, New York, with a 
sincerity and fervor rarely equaled even in his famous cam- ' 
paigns, cut deeply into the prevailing hyprocrisies of the New 
York newspapers. "I have been in politics for a quarter of a 
century, " he said, "and I have never yet known the New York 
press to take the side of the American people in any question. ' ' 

And in this greatest of crises the whcle American press, tak- 
ing its lead from New York, has been guilty of ignoring and 
misrepresenting the sentiments of the people. When the people 
protested it was sought to silence them by charges of disloyalty. 
The effort will be more hazardous now that Bryan has said 
"Each citizen is at liberty to express his opinion as to whether 



NEUTRALITY 21 

or not there should be war. Not only is the citizen at liberty to 
express his opinion on the subject, but, in view of the efforts of 
a portion of the press to force the country into war, it is his 
duty to enter his protest now. Upon this question every cit- 
izen has a right to speak. ' ' 

CHAPTER IV 
Hotbed of Toryism. 

Accusing thus the newspapers of New York City, one only 
has to read American history to find out how fully just and true 
Mr. Bryan's statement is. New York City is today the same 
stronghold of toryism and English snobbery it was in the days 
of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. In the dark days 
of 1776 and of 1861 the so-called public opinion of New York 
and the newspapers of the city opposed the national and patri- 
otic cause. Washington distrusted the New York City merchant 
class. 

In 1861 Abraham Lincoln was caricatured as an ape by the 
metropolitan press, inspired by London. For fifteen decades 
the New York City newspapers, or the majority of them, had 
been led in international politics, and in the world's business, 
by London. Their real influence in the United States is small, 
and steadily receding in the West, which controls the country in 
public affairs. 

The favor of certain New York City newspapers is disastrous 
to all national aspirants for public honors. 

The delegation from New York State, the largest, is the most 
impotent in Congress. The voice of New York City is local and 
does not even control the commonwealth of the State of New 
York, to say nothing of the United States of America. The 
Irish emigrants of New York in 1776 were the first to enroll in 
the revolution, and George Washington became a member of the 
first Irish Eevolutionary Society in New York, the Sons of Saint 
Patrick. Without the support of the Irish, the colony of New 
York would not have embraced the American Constitution. 

When the Declaration of Independence was submitted, New 
York was loyal to England. Thomas Jefferson announced his 
distrust of New York. George Washington, satisfied of the de- 
votion of Philadelphia and Boston, determined that he would 
transfer his headquarters from New York, and relied on the 
intrepid Irish patriots for support. He took charge of a hostile 



22 NEUTRALITY 

commonwealth. (See Woodrow Wilson's "History of the Amer- 
ican People," page 243, Vol. 2.) 

There were enough tory sympathizers to lose him New York, 
and, fearing treachery on the part of the residents, Washington 
retreated from New York in the fall of 1776. "These are the 
times that try men's souls," said Thomas Paine, in December, 
1776. Confident of New York, the British followed Yfashington 
to the Delaware. 

So there was no wonder that in the New York of 1914 min- 
isters a la Rainsford, a la, Parkhurst, preached on David and 
Goliath, and publishers invoked Jack the Giant Killer! The 
odds were ten to one! The great mathematician in the New 
York Times tower was proving it, that one Englishman is a 
match for sixteen Germans ! 

Lies, ignorance, stupidity and the most frightful exaggera- 
tions characterized the otherwise normal and sane press of the 
City of New York. Everybody believed what he wanted to be- 
lieve, and most persons seemed to resent the truth, if it failed 
to fit in with the gossip and rumor already read and accepted, 
because, the paper which prints the news which is "fit to print," 
because the paper which says: "If you see it here, it's so," 
because the paper which carries the motto on the top of its edi- 
torial page: "From first to last, the truth in editorials, news, 
and advertisements," said so, and that settled it! 

And anybody who dared to argue, who dared to protest, who 
dared to contradict or to enlighten, was a "hyphenated bar- 
barian," who, if he thinks as he does, has no business to be in 
these blessed United States. - ' Eaus mit ihm ! ' ' Every German, 
Austrian, Hungarian and Irishman was a liar, beginning with 
Ridder and Viereck, editor of the Staats-Zeitung, and respec- 
tively of the Fatherland, to the last beer-slinging bartender 
of Teutonic East Side ! 

"Bans mit ihm!" became the slogan. The "d d for- 
eigner ! ' ' yelled the tory press. There was no use for argument 
and glorious historical proofs of tried and proved loyalty of 

these "d d foreigners," alias "hyphenated Americans," to 

this, their adopted country of America. 

It should and must be stated right here at the beginning of 
this narrative, and stated once and for all, that there could be 
no question of the patriotism and loyalty of the German- Amer- 
icans to the country of their adoption, in which they form a 
powerful element. But, although the German or Austria-Hun- 
garian Americans are loyal Americans, they do not feel that, 



NEUTRALITY 23 

even under the present conditions, they have forfeited the right 
of free speech. 

It is the fundamental principle of democracy that each and 
every citizen shall be privileged to state, freely, frankly and 
fearlessly, his opinion in regard to governmental measures and 
policies. American suffrage is based upon that theory. The 
native or hyphenated-American who believes that the policy of 
the present administration is not to the best interests of the 
country of his birth or adoption has an absolute, unqualified 
right to say so. He has the privilege not only of saying so, but, 
as an American citizen, the duty of manifesting his opinion and 
registering it at the polls. 



CHAPTER V 
No Muzzles for Americans. 

Criticism of the administration is not criticism of the form 
of government. The fact that numerous newspapers throughout 
the country have not hesitated to criticize the administration 
of the United States Navy by the Secretary of the Navy, ap- 
pointed by Woodrow Wilson — which is in itself a reflection upon 
the judgment and wisdom of the Chief Executive — has not ex- 
posed those newspapers to charges of disloyalty. 

Why, then, should President Wilson's policy in regard to 
the protection of American shipping against British aggression, 
in regard to the creation of an embargo upon the shipment of 
munitions of war — which, in view of existing conditions on the 
seas, cannot but fail to lend material aid to one group of bel- 
ligerents to the disadvantage of the other — and in regard to his 
foreign policy, generally, be exempt from discussion? 

Criticism by the German-American, Hungarian, Polish or 
Irish press in such matters is no more an indication of disloyalty 
than criticism of the Unitecl States Navy or of our Mexican 
policy by the Anglo-American press. 

Probably no one would resent more indignantly than would 
Mr. Wilson himself the suggestion that an American may not 
criticize the President with full freedom, so long as he does it 
courteously. The recent case of Assistant Postmaster Burkitt of 
Winnetka, 111., amply proves it. 

We have had a President who required his admirers to follow 
him like trained dogs ; but we do not understand that the pres- 
ent President lays such an exaction upon his friends. Even that 



24 NEUTRALITY 

blatherskite in Oyster Bay admitted in his Plattsburgh speech 
that ' ' it is defensible to state that we stand by the country, right 
or wrong. It is indefensible for any free man in a fiee re- 
public to state that he will stand by any official, right or wrong. ' ' 

' ' The President has the right to have said of him nothing but 
what is true ; he should have sufficient time to make his position 
clear. But as regards supporting him in all public policies, and 
above all in international policies, the right of any President 
is only to demand public support because he does well, because 
he serves the public well, "and not merely because Tie is Presi- 
dent/' and when America's "great lawyer, statesman and ora- 
tor," Mr. Joseph Choate, in his speech at the Pilgrims' ban- 
quet, says, "We are placed in a peculiar position in this coun- 
try. We are neutral, but the Constitution guarantees the free- 
dom of speech, so I can speak for myself," one must accord 
this privilege to every American citizen, hyphenated or not, 
because if it's Roosevelt's right, it's also theirs; if it's Choate' s 
right, it's also theirs. 

They're no more Americans than any other hyphenated Ger- 
man, Irish, Hungarian or Anglo-American, and the Constitution 
of the United States makes no distinction between the accidental 
American and the one who's an American by his own free will 
and choice. Acting upon this constitutional and inalienable 
right of free speech and in the spirit of this law, the writer of 
this volume has prepared and compiled its contents as an an- 
swear and lessen the "chartered liars" of the "Al-lies" press. 

The government of the United States is not a personal gov- 
ernment. Criticism of the private or official acts of the man 
who happens to be the President of the country are not to be 
looked upon as attacks upon the government itself — which is the 
people's. 

CHAPTER VI 

The Headline Ananias. 

The immortal headlines, pictures and cartoons of the 
American newspapers, and particularly of the New York 
papers in the early time of this great war, are not extreme ex- 
amples, and are woefully inadequate to indicate the full extent 
of the devoted service to "Untruth" performed by the gifted 
imaginers of these inexhaustible fictions, these modern Ananiases 
of newspaperdom. 



NEUTRALITY 25 

It's regrettable to state that the same practices prevailed in 
all sections of the country, among all classes of papers, and that 
"time dulleth not the edge of the weapon." 

It has been truly said that the greatest achievement of the 
English navy was the cutting of the American-German cable; 
equally true it is that the supreme strategic achievement of the 
Allies was the capture of the New York press. The reading 
matter which followed the headlines, the editorials and the car- 
toons combined in an effect as baneful as that of the headlines. 
At the date of compiling this book, it was difficult to secure ex- 
amples of the headlines in a form which permits of photograph- 
ing; but their nature is sufficiently displayed here, if, indeed, 
it needs demonstration to the American people. 

Americans are all familiar to nausea with the glaring bloody- 
red announcements of victories which have never occurred, the 
villainous accusations of atrocities never committed, the treach- 
erous attempts to create a feeling of enmity between this coun- 
try and Germany and Austro-Hungary, and the diminuendo, 
pianissimo, shrinking-violet style of printing the truth about 
German victories, German practices and the German attitude 
toward this country. 

At this late hour of the war, it is, of course, physically and 
mechanically impossible to give the reader a thoroughly up-to- 
date "show" of the screamingly funny "headline campaign" 
of our neutral ( ?) New York press, but the few that are repro- 
duced here will, with their humor, amply demonstrate what 
' ' fools these mortals be, ' ' particularly if they happen to be New 
York City newspaper editors or headline writers. 

FRENCH AEROPLANE RAMS GERMAN 

BALLOON— TWENTY-SIX DEAD 



The first headline is from the New York World. One need 
not to be reminded what the late Joseph Pulitzer said in regard 
to "truth in journalism," and one can judge for himself to what 
extent his son and heir, the present proprietor and editor of that 
paper, follows the teachings of his father, who was considered 
one of the greatest journalists of this country. Joseph Pu- 
litzer, father of the present owner and editor of the New York 
World, earned his first wages in America as a reporter of a 
German newspaper in St. Louis. 

The above headline tells how a French aeroplane rammed 
a Zeppelin. Of course, the object of this story was to create 



26 N EUTEALITY 

admiration for the French. But, unfortunately, the Germans 
have not been conducting the war according to our papers, 
and later the German government officially denied the truth 
of this absurdity. 

At the outset it should be borne in mind that all dispatches 
containing war news which are sent from London, Paris, Eome 
and St. Petersburg — now Petrograd and soon probably Wil- 
helmsburg — are censored by the government officials, and that 
therefore these governments, since they permit their publica- 
tion, are responsible for the statements made. 

This situation places a very serious aspect upon the condi- 
tions existing in this war. While the lies were perhaps invented 
by the respective newspaper correspondents in order to furnish 
copy, they received the sanctions of the respective censors of the 
various governments and therefore became the lies of the gov- 
ernments themselves. 

FRENCH AVIATOR DESTROYS DIRIGIBLE, 

LOSING HIS LIFE IN THE AIR 

The N. Y. Herald. 



It will be observed that the New York World was not the 
only paper which published this falsehood. The New York 
Herald was even more industrious in edifying its readers with 
the same lie. Other papers followed suit. As they received 
their news from the same source, they were all equally vic- 
timized. 

BRITAIN ON VERGE OF WAR WITH GERMANY. 



GERMANS INVADE HOLLAND. 



FIGHT AT SEA— GOLD OUTFLOW STOPS BILLION 

MORE MONEY. 

The N. Y. World. 



This statement in the World was a deliberate falsehood, hav- 
ing for its object the creation of prejudice against Germany, 
due to an invasion of Holland, a friendly nation, without just 
cause. The lie is so much more grotesque as we know that Hol- 
land's neutrality was never impaired and up to this hour Hol- 
land remained neutral. 



NEUTRALITY 27 

FRENCH WARSHIPS SINK AND 

CAPTURE GERMAN CRUISERS 

The N. Y. Herald. 



The next lie of importance was the report of the capture of 
the Goeben and Breslau and the sinking of the Panther, 
On August 5, 1914, the New York Herald published the ac- 
count, giving pictures of the unfortunate cruisers. These pic- 
tures were published to carry further conviction to the minds of 
the readers, so as to emphasize the lie. 

GERMAN BATTLE CRUISER GOEBEN 

CAPTURED BY THE FRENCH 

The N. T. Tribune. 



This as early as August 5th. The New York Tribune no 
doubt was delighted with this news and gave it great prom- 
inence. It's the Tribune which carries as its motto on top of its 
editorial page : ' ' From first to last, the truth in editorials, news 
and advertisements." One may judge for oneself how the Tri- 
bune lives up to its motto. 

PARIS HEARS FRENCH FLEET 

SINKS TWO GERMAN CRUISERS 



This is from the conservative and truthful New York Sun, 
trying hard to emulate its neighbor, The Tribune. The Sun 
boasts very proudly that "If you see it in the Sun, it is so." 
One has grave doubts now about the seriousness of this boast. 
There was a time when, if one read it in the Sun, it was so, but 
now it is not so, or, rather, " sometimes so and sometimes not 
so." In fact, all the newspapers printed this lying item and 
gave it great prominence. Then, later, they were compelled to 
raise these very ships, repair them, and permit them to escape 
into the Dardanelles, where for some time they have been mak- 
ing things interesting for England and her allies. 



CHAPTER VII 

Attack on Liege. 

KAISER'S ARMY MEETS DEFEAT IN BELGIUM. 



BELGIANS WHIP GERMANS, REFUSING TO GIVE UP 

LIEGE. 

The N. Y. World. 



The headline indicates the opening engagement of the war 
— "The Attack Upon Liege." It has been officially stated by 
Germany that the attacking forces upon Liege were smaller 
than the defending forces. It was contended by the "foremost 
New York newspaper war experts" that it would take months 
for the Germans to capture these forts, so confident were they 
in the ability of the French engineers — who had aided in their 
construction. Yet, strange to say, these forts were captured in 
less than four days, in one of the most remarkable military 
achievements in the history of the world. In the attack, Ger- 
many sprung her first great surprise of the war, the famous 
42-centimeter gun. The newspapers never expected this. 

For some reason or other, strange to relate, Germany did not 
take the American press into its confidence, and, of course, 
"news we must have," said the editors; so they gave credence 
to the English and Belgian and French reports, whether true 
or not. The Germans have, no doubt, used very bad judgment 
in handling the American press during the war in not inform- 
ing them of their plans before they executed them. In accord- 
ance with the old American custom, they should have given the 
plans of their strategy to these newspapers before hand, though 
it is well known that the German general staff has given Ameri- 
can newspaper correspondents and American military attaches 
more latitude for free movement and observation on the differ- 
ent scenes of war than the Allies. 

For months after the beginning of the war England and 
her Allies would not tolerate the presence of war correspondents 
with their armies ; they even refused to allow American military 
attaches to be present in the war zone. 

The few subjoined headlines mark the beginning of the cam- 
paign of "little Belgium," whose people are pictured as the 

28 



NEUTRALITY 29 

most "courageous and gallant fighters" the world has ever 
known. Though the German official report repeatedly stated 
that the resistance of the Belgium army was not commensurate 
to its size and to the number of soldiers, or as far as the quality 
of their fortifications — which were pretty strong — was con- 
cerned. 

The Evening Sun on Aug. 5, 1914, announced in bold and 
blackest typed headline : 

BELGIUM BEATS GERMANS ; 

ENGLISH ARMY TO AID HER 



It's rather odd that the war didn't stop right then and 
there after the Belgians accomplished this heroic feat. As for 
the "aiding English army," the Belgians are still on the look- 
out for them. 

The N. Y. World, on August 6th, announces the Kaiser's 
army's defeat in Belgium with this headline: 

GERMANS LOSE THOUSANDS IN BELGIUM. 



Following below with another pipe dream, the headline artist 
says : 

BRITAIN LOOKS TO VANQUISH 

NAVY IN NORTH SEA 



She's still looking. 

BELGIANS OVERWHELM THE 

GERMANS ATTACKING LIEGE 

N. Y. Herald, Aug. 7, 1914. 



KAISER SHOT 100 SOCIALISTS, 

AMONG THEM THE SOCIALIST 

LEADER, HERR LIEBKNECHT 



Well, Well! As far as it is known Herr Liebknecht is still 
around and "kicking." 

GERMANS LOSE 25,000 MEN AT LIEGE. 

N. T. Herald, Aug. 8, 1914. 



ASKS FOR ARMISTICE TO BURY DEAD. 



30 NEUTEALITY 

GERMANS HURLED BACK AT LIEGE. 

BELGIANS INFLICT HEAVY LOSS 

N. T. Tribune, Aug. 6, 1914. 



GERMANY SENDS AN ULTIMATUM TO ITALY. 



It imist have been lost in transit, or the Italian Government 
apparently has not answered this ultimatum yet. 

BATTLESHIP FLORIDA IN 

WAIT FOR VATERLAND 



And the Vaterland is still at Hoboken. Apparently our 
Government or the newspapers misinterpreted the desire of the 
Yaterland to "keep clean" an attempt to escape. Further 
down, one reads: 

ROUT OF GERMANS IN BELGIUM 

TURNED INTO A SLAUGHTER 



The "rout" was on the other foot — of course. 

KAISER FORCES ADMIT LOSS 

OF 25,000 BEFORE LIEGE. 

N. Y. Sun, Aug. 8, 1914. 



This is one of the spots which the war has cast on "The 

Sun." 

BELGIANS FORCE MANY GERMANS 

TO SURRENDER, LONDON HEARS 

N. V. Herald, Aug. 9, 1914. 



Now we come to the truth, and it's funny to observe how it 
was treated by our press. The Herald : "LIEGE HAS FALL- 
EN, KAISER HEARS," and a second headline: 

BERLIN HEARS A REPORT 

THAT LIEGE HAS FALLEN 



The clauses of doubt, "Kaiser Hears" and "Berlin Hears," 
which have been added to the truth, are interesting. Contrast- 



NEUTRALITY 31 

ing this with the positive affirmation with which false reports 
favorable to the Allies are stated, one can draw the just con- 
clusion. 

KAISER IS SAID TO HAVE 

PROCLAIMED VICTORY AT LIEGE 

The N. Y, Sun, Aug. 9, 1914. 



The Sun also has its doubts. Here is another opportunity 
of comparing the way the Sun treats the news of the Allies and 
the Germans. Although the capture of Liege was a momentous 
matter of news, it was placed third in the headlines. The first 
statement was that 

FRENCH TROOPS INVADE GERMANY 

AND CAPTURE ALTKIRCH 



No clause of doubt has been added to that headline. 

KAISER TELLS BERLIN 

LIEGE HAS BEEN CAPTURED 

The N. Y. Times, Aug. 9, 1914. 



The Times was for once fairer about this than the Sun. It 
realized that the matter was of prime importance and gave it 
right of way in its headlines; nevertheless, it did not take any 
responsibility such as it took when it stated: 

FRENCH INVADE ALSACE, 

in the remainder of the headlines relative to the event. 

LIEGE FORTS SILENCE BIG GUNS OF GERMANS. 

The N. Y. World, Aug. 14, 1914. 



No doubt, the World meant that the silence of the forts 
caused the " silence of the guns." 

HOLLAND FLOODS LANDS TO STOP INVASION. 



This is what we might call a lie of the "first water." The 
N. Y. World shows wonderful aptitude in dignifying its news 
fabrications. 



32 



NEUTRALITY 



GERMAN GENERAL SHOT AT LIEGE 

The N. Y. World, Aug. 16, 1914. 



The N. Y. "World came to the conclusion that a dead German 
was a good German. At any rate, the publication of General Von 
Emmich 's picture gave the American people a good opportunity 
to observe the face of what is apparently a very strong char- 
acter. It might also be observed that this strong character 
seems to be the typical face of German officers. Apparently, 
German militarism develops "some" strong character. As 
the photographs were taken long after the above date, Von 
Emmich must have risen from his grave to attend this jollifi- 
cation. 





*^B» ^i 


S *:& jBjt 


• i 


- ^SEipygl 






■ ^HB 








' 


*?*T^Sr 


■ :W 


f . 


- .. 






_ 1 




General von Emmich. 
*Dec 20th, 1915 



General von Emmich Toasting His 
Fellow Officers at a Celebration 
of His Victory. 



LIEGE FORTS STILL HOLD OUT, PARIS IS TOLD. 

The N. T. World, Aug. 19, 1914. 



This is exactly ten days after the fall of Liege. Apparently 
the wish was the father of this headline. Poor Paris, she has 
been told many things since. Another headline states: 

THREE MORE ZEPPELINS HAVE 

BEEN DESTROYED IN BELGIUM 



If it would have stated 300, it would have been equally true. 

*Since these lines were written Gen'l Von Emmich died. (Ed. Note). 



NEUTEALITY 33 

GERMANS LOSE 20,000 IN LIEGE TRAP. 

The N. Y. Tribune, Aug. 11, 3914. 



This was, of course, fiction pure and simple. The Tribune 
seems to make of this war a specialty of fiction. No wonder 
Richard Harding Davis was at that time its chief correspondent. 

BELGIAN RESISTANCE FORCES GERMANS 
TO MAKE WIDE DETOUR NORTH OF LIEGE 

The N. T. Tribune, Aug. 15, 1915. 



GERMANS ARE IN RETREAT AFTER 

ANOTHER VAIN ASSAULT AT LIEGE 



These headlines were published five days after Liege was 
captured, and the Tribune itself published previously the real 
account. This is presumably the significance contained in the 
clause of doubt. 

GERMANS RUSH FORTS AT LIEGE WITH GRENADES 

The N. Y. Sun. 



This is a headline from the Sun, of August 15, 1914. It 
shows that the Sun, together with its neighbor, the Tribune, 
was still carrying on the attack upon Liege five days after its 
capture. 

Apparently, the Sun used English or Russian artillery, or 
perhaps both, in its attack. 

The next lie is about a mysterious battle which was fought 
in the North Sea between the British and German fleets. Of 
course, this battle had been "devoutedly" wished for by the 
British, but for some reason or other, the "rats," as Mr. Win- 
ston Churchill has called them, have not seen fit to come out of 
their holes. Of course, in this plan, the Germans again failed 
to consult with our newspaper strategists — and as a result, they 
were left high and dry with this announcement of naval victory 
fought and won. 



34 NEUTRALITY 

THE GREAT BRITISH AND GERMAN FLEETS 

ARE FIGHTING IN THE NORTH SEA AND LON- 
DON HEARS THAT ENGLAND IS WINNING 

The N. Y. Herald, Aug. 7, 1914. 



This report goes into more detail. It reads: 
" Dispatches from London say that the big fight of the cen- 
turies is on, the information coming to London press from the 
Admirality, which, however, later on refused either to confirm 
or deny the report. Presence of wounded men in port prove 
that an engagement, possibly decisive, is being fought." 

The motive for this report was the announcement that the 
British cruiser Amphion was sunk by a mine, causing a loss 
of 131 men. 

BRITISH CRUISER STRIKES MINE 

—131 OF CREW ARE LOST 

The N. Y. Sun, Aug. 7, 1914. 



NINETEEN GERMAN WARSHIPS 

REPORTED SUNK IN BATTLE 



The Sun contained a more specific report of this mysterious 
battle, which was never fought. It stated that "nineteen" Ger- 
man warships were reported sunk, in its headlines, and it also 
stated "that fishermen tell of fighting between Germans and 
British." It might be observed, that fishermen don't always 
tell the truth. But apparently, in this particular instance, the 
Sun was much impressed with their veracity. The report of 
this battle is one of the most remarkable fabrications of New 
York's journalistic perversity of the war. 



CHAPTER VIII 
Traitorous Italy. 
GERMANY AND AUSTRIA NOW 

THREATEN WAR ON ITALY 

The N. Y. World, Aug. 9, 1914. 



One of the most persistent sources of falsehoods during the 
present war has been the attitude of Italy up to May 23rd, 1915, 
when Italy actually declared war on Austria-Hungary. Here 
we have a headline of August 9th, stating that Germany and 
Austria, now threaten war on Italy. This was another lie made 
out of whole cloth. The Sun has repeatedly fixed the date 
of Italy's entrance into the conflict, but apparently the Ital- 
ians waited 10 months before they decided to gratify the editor 
of the Sun. These newspaper reports about Italy furnish us 
a successful contrast with the similar reports circulated by 
England concerning our own affairs prior to the War of 1812. 
In 1791 William Short wrote to Thomas Jefferson that: 

"It is published in the English newspapers that war is 
inevitable between the United States and Spain, and that prep- 
arations were being made every day on both sides." 

To which Jefferson replied: 

"It would be an impossible task for us to go through the 
London newspapers and formally contradict all their lies, even 
those relating to America, On our side there has certainly been 
no preparations made for war against Spain, nor have I heard 
of any on their part but in the London newspapers. ' ' 

Apparently, the manufacturing of lies is an old and favorite 
industry of England, and — it has justly been suggested — a very 
profitable one. 

ITALY, THROUGH A SECRET PACT, 

WOULD FIGHT FOR THE ENGLISH 

The N. Y. World, Aug. 23, 1914. 



It is well known now that English money caused Italy to 
break its treaty with her Allies and friends, though thi3 headline 
is dated as early as August 23rd. That historical crime which 
will be of everlasting shame to Italy didn't take place until 

35 



36 



NEUTRALITY 



nine months later, which proves again the veracity of the New 
York papers. 

The Green Book, published by the Italian Government, in 
justification of her brutal attack on her loyalty to Austro- 
Hungary, is a most ridiculous document. Therein the world 
is told that Austria had disregarded her treaty obligations by 
declaring war on Servia without simultaneously offering Italy 
territorial compensation — since, according to the treaty of alli- 
ance, an extension of Austro-Hungarian territory in the Balkans 
was only to take place after consultation with Italy. Such cant S 
Such hypocrisy surpasses even that of the English. 

The man in the street has 
won! English and French 
money have won, and have 
dragged into the dust the 
honor of a nation which will 
be stained forever. History 
will judge! It does not for- 
get. 

Poor misled, misguided 
Italian people! For things 
which they might have ob- 
tained without a single blow, 
they're now making the 
heaviest sacrifices in life in 
blood and money, simply to 

please corrupt statesmen, hired agents and a morally corrupt, 

degenerate poet in the hire of the English. 

Italy's dastardly, and in history almost unparalleled, crime 
of declaring war against her former loyal and true ally of 
Austro-Hungary is the more to be condemned, as it was only 
a few months before the outbreak of the war, or to be more pre- 
cise, on the 16th of March, 1914, when the King of Italy, on board 
of the German Imperial Yacht Hohenzollern in the Bay of 
Naples, toasted the German Emperor in the following words: 
1 ■ My people and I recognize and greet in your majesty the loyal, 
true and staunch friend. The ties which for so many years 
fortunately and happily united our two countries with that 
of our illustrious ally and friend, Austro-Hungary, were up to 
this day the mightiest bulwark for the peace of Europe ! ' ' And 
when, on the 2nd of August, 1914, the Emperor of Austria and 
King of Hungary, Francis Joseph I, notified Italy that in con- 




The Stab in the Back. 



NEUTRALITY 37 

sequence of the Russian mobilization, Austria-Hungary is forced 
to mobilize its army, King Victor Emanuel wired back, that, 
respecting his treaty with the Triple Alliance, Italy will main- 
tain toward her ally "a hearty and friendly attitude.' ' The 
"hearty, friendly attitude" consisted in stabbing Austria-Hun- 
gary in the back, by declaring war on her, when she was mostly 
distressed. 

The next events of importance are the reports in the press 
of Germany's marvelous advance through Belgium and France, 
culminating in a tremendous drive or thrust forward to a point 
southeast of Paris. It is now known that in this advance the 
French and British retreat was a veritable rout. 

CHAPTER IX 

1 ' Offensive Victories. ' ' 

FRENCH CHECK GERMANS WITH 

HEAVY LOSS IN BELGIUM 

The N. Y. World, Aug. 17, 1914. 



At this time the French, considering that discretion was the 
better part of valor, were falling back in precipitate flight. 

ALLIES TAKE OFFENSIVE IN 100-MILE BATTLE. 

The N. T. World, Aug. 24, 1914. 



This statement was directly contrary to the facts, except 
that all their " offensives " before and after the above date and 
headline were very " offensive " to their own people and armies. 
Just let's remember Neuve Chappelle and the offensive at Loos. 

ENGLISH HELD LINE UNTIL FRENCH GAVE WAY. 

The N. Y. World, Aug. 25, 1914. 



It is remarkable how about 85,000 English soldiers could 
hold their ground, while about a million and a half of French- 
men were compelled to run away. It was news of this character 
which was sent broadcast by British news agencies, which 
almost caused dissension between England and France. France 
refused to permit British news agencies to libel the valor of her 
troops. 



38 NEUTRALITY 

When the authentic news of the French retreat was pub- 
lished, it appeared that the British troops, being on the left, 
ran faster than their French allies. During this retreat the 
newspaper headlines read: 
RETREAT BECAME MORE GLORIOUS THAN VICTORY 



Although the honors of the war were apparently with the 
Germans, by reason of their advance, the newspapers of New 
York did not hesitate to give them to the Allies. A feature of this 
headline is, that it does not indicate which French it referred 
to — whether to General French, Commander of the English 
army, or his ally, the French soldier. 

"If You See It in the Sun It's So" — so she tells us in a 
very funny headline of August 14th: 

TOMMY ATKINS IN RETREAT IS A FINE FIGHTER. 



We readily believe that — Tommy Atkins always fights in 
the rear. Let the poor little Belgian or "Frenchy" do the fight- 
ing in the front. ' ' After you, my dear Alphonse. ' ' 
BELGIAN LEFT WING CRUSHES GERMAN 

FORCES IN THE OPENING ENGAGEMENT 

OF BATTLE FOR PASSAGE TO FRANCE 

The N. Y. Herald, Aug. 13, 1914. 



This statement was directly the contrary to the actual fact. 
PARIS SAYS THE GERMAN ATTACK HAS 

BEEN CRUSHED AND DRIVEN BACK IN THE 

OPENING ATTACK OF THE ALLIES' ARMIES 

The N. Y. Herald, Aug. 16, 1914. 



This must have come from Mr. James Gordon Bennett him- 
self, the owner of the New York Herald, who resides in Paris. 
No doubt, Mr. Bennett preferred this headline to the actual 
fact, which was that the French battle front was crushed and 
driven back by the opening attack of the Germans. 

Considering the fact that Mr. James Gordon Bennett — after 
expatriating himself — has lived in Paris for the past thirty-five 
years, publishing a very successful paper there, it would be 
rank ingratitude on his part not to talk and write as he does. 
"Loyalty" to our friends and benefactors is a commendable 
virtue, and Mr. Bennett is practicing it to the best of his ability. 

The Battle of the Marne was in reality not a battle as de- 
scribed by the press. This fact becomes clearer daily. A study 



NEUTRALITY 



39 



of the German advance in the light of their present positions in- 
dicates that the German advance was a thrust forward on the 
left flank of the Allies to force back their lines for the purpose 
of compelling them to uncover the impregnable positions the 
Germans now occupy and have occupied since their withdrawal 

from the Marne. 

It is clear now that the German strategy comprehended 
first the obtaining, and latterly the holding of the present lines 
and to fortify them for the purpose of resistance — whilst it at- 
tacked England by way of the Straits of Dover, and protected 
itself from Russia on its east front. 

At the present time Germany holds one-sixth of France, 
including its greatest manufacturing districts, its greatest min- 
eral resources, and its great champagne industry. The burden 
of the offensive is, therefore, upon France and her ally. This 
they have not been able to maintain, as one knows. As a result 
of the successful strategy on the part of Germany all the deso- 
lation and devastation of war have been inflicted upon foreign, 
and not on German soil, as per N. Y. Herald report, reading : 
GRAND DESOLATION, NARROW DEFILE BETWEEN 
VERDUN AND MONTMEDY AFFORDS ONLY 

AVENUE OF ESCAPE FOR GERMANS 



The withdrawal of the 
German army from the 
Marne was and is a remark- 
able achievement, so all mili- 
tary experts agreed. It was 
accomplished with compara- 
tively small losses and with 
practically no disorder. The 
fact that Von Kluck's army 
drove east and south of Paris 
indicates that its objective 
was not Paris, but the occu- 
pation of the present Ger- 
man line. If, of the retreats 
reported in cur papers, one- 
tenth were true, the eastern 
army by this time would be 
camping in Golden Gate 
Park, San Francisco. 

The personality of Gen- 
eral Von Kluck is a living 
refutation of the accusations 




General von Kluck. 



40 



NEUTRALITY 



that the German army is not a democratic institution. Von 
Kluck is the son of a humble, poor letter carrier, and a self- 
made man in every sense of the word. It was unfortunate that 
he was wounded, but from latest reports, he 's well again. 



CHAPTER X 

Crown Prince and Press Bullets. 

Here is the way the German withdrawal from, the Marne 
was reported by the New York press : 

LONDON HEARS THAT GERMAN CROWN PRINCE 

AND THE IMPERIAL GUARD ARE ANNIHILATED 

The N. T. Herald, Sept. 8, 1914. 




The German Crown Prince is 
still very much alive and the Im- 
perial Guard is yet in existence. 
The killing of the Crown Prince 
has been a very pleasant enterprise 
of our Press, and according to 
their reports, the Crown Prince 
would have to have the nine lives 
of a cat to survive the many 
deaths that have been attributed 
to him since the beginning of the 
war, and yet at the present mo- 
ment he is well and in good spirits 
at the head of his army in France. 

YOU CAN HAVE 24 HOURS 

TO GET OUT OF FRANCE 

The N. Y. Herald, Sept. 9, 1914. 



CROWN PRINCE FRIEDRICH 
WILHELM. 



This was an ultimatum by 
Mons. James Gordon Bennett of 
the Paris Herald to Germany. 
Mons. Bennett must have felt 
bad that morning ; maybe one of his dogs got sick ! 

The headline was published under date of September 9th. 
Well, the 24-hour limit has long since expired, and Germany's 
soldiers are still there ! This may account for the reason why 



NEUTRALITY 41 

the Herald and its pink sister — the ' ' Tel-a-lie-gram ' ' — have 
declared war on Germany, German-Americans, Hungarians, 
IrishAmericans, and all lovers of truth and justice. 

DEFEAT OF KAISER'S RIGHT BECOMES 

ROUT— BATTERED, BEATEN, BROKEN 

The N. T. Herald, Sept. 12, 1914. 



Lying by prose evidently became ineffective to the Ananias 
headliner of the Herald, so he resorted to alliteration — "poetica 
licentia" — one of the prerogatives of poetry. It must be ob- 
served that at no time during a retreat of the French or British, 
or both, did the newspapers publish such a decisive and peremp- 
tory headline, such as we have here. 

It cannot be said that this headline shows a "neutral" spirit, 
particularly in view of the fact that the withdrawal of the Ger- 
mans from the Marne was conducted in an orderly manner, and 
was not in any sense a retreat such as characterized the with- 
drawal of the French, English and Belgians from Belgium and 
Northern France. 

GERMAN CROWN PRINCE IS REPORTED DEAD. 

The N. T. Herald, Sept. 13, 1914. 



This is another announcement by the Herald that the Crown 
Prince has been killed again. 

MAD BULL DASH TO VICTORY OR 

DESTRUCTION, FLIGHT OR CAPTURE 

The N. Y. Herald, Sept. 14, 1914. 



This is an announcement of the Kaiser's fate. His only 
open courses are a "ma,d bull dash to victory, or destruction, 
flight or capture. ' ' Apparently, the Kaiser has means of escape 
which are unknown to the Allies. 

PALL OF GLOOM HANGS OVER GERMAN PEOPLE ; 

SOCIALISTS WOULD DETHRONE KAISER 

The N. T. Herald, Sept. 15, 1914. 



Funny stuff — isn 't it ? 

Both of these statements are wild and ridiculous falsehoods. 
At no time have the German people lost confidence in their 
ruler, and of all the German people who have been loyal and 
faithful to the Kaiser, the Socialists are the most loyal. 



42 NEUTEALITY 

BRITANNIA RULES THE AIR AS WELL AS THE SEA. 

The N. Y. Herald of same date. 



Americans are very much in doubt as to the truth of this 
statement at the present time, in view of the marvelous exploits 
of German submarines ; the sinking of the battleships Audacious 
and Formidable, of the Lusitania, Arabic, Hesperia, and hun- 
dreds of other ships ; and the recent visits of Zeppelins and aero- 
planes to Dover, Dunkirk, Whitby, Scarborough, Hartlepool, 
and last, but not least, to ' c deah old London. ' ' 

CHAPTER XI 
The Kaiser. 

Americans all read the outrageous and slanderous, highly 
insulting reports that have been printed in this our so-called 
"neutral" press about the Kaiser. It will be to the everlasting 
shame of the vilifiers of this great arid noble man and monarch, 
to the everlasting disgrace of those papers that gave space and 
opportunity to the infamous attacks of these pro-British sym- 
pathizers, who place the entire responsibility for this deplorable 
war on the shoulders of the German Emperor. 

They who hold this view claim that the German Emperor 
wanted the Avar. They compare him to Napoleon, who tried to 
conquer the world a hundred years ago. They call him the 
great "War-Lord," the permanent menace of peace, the com- 
mon enemy of all civilized nations. 

This view at one time was held by a large part of the public 
and the press of this country. Even one of the professional 
apostles of Christian love, Dr. C. H. Parkhurst, of New York, 
expressed this view in the most drastic terms in one of our 
dailies. According to him, the German Emperor "ought to be 
shot, as a policeman shoots a mad dog. The German nation 
should be annihilated. Her claws should be clipped and her 
teeth filed and enough of her fortifications dismantled to render 
her harmless, and as heavy a war indemnity imposed as will 
drive her to absolute penury." 

That men of the cloth, like this leap-frogging, candy-peddling 
Parkhurst, clothed in the respectable garment of a Protestant 
Minister, should have the impudence to use the expression he 
did, in regard to the Kaiser, ought only fill with disgust and 
contempt everybody, and particularly the members of the church 
where their minister officiates. 




yf- 



WILHELM II. 



NEUTRALITY 43 

The author hopes that the reader will bear with him in his 
efforts to show what some great writers some of our papers and 
some of the vilifiers had to say about this very same Kaiser be- 
fore this war broke out. 

Mr. Aleister Crowley, the great English writer and poet, 
says: "It was my purpose to expose the infamous pretense, 
which, however, is not too inane to dupe even clean-sighted 
Englishmen in their hysteric hour — the pretense that the Kaiser 
is a "mad dog," a homicidal maniac, a man like Nebuchadnez- 
zer in the Hebrew fable, or like ' ' Attila, the scourge of God, ' ' or 
Tamerlane. ■ It is a lie. The Kaiser has always been, and is to- 
day, a man of peace. He has indeed lived up to the maxim ' ' Si 
vis pacem, para bellum," and, loaded with the legacy of hate 
which the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine had thrust upon his 
shoulders, he could do no less without offering the breast of Ger- 
many to the ravisher. 

A lamb to the slaughter, indeed, with La Revanche in every 
mouth ! What could he do, with men yet alive who remembered 
Jena and the ceaseless raids and ravages of Bonaparte? But 
in a hundred crises he kept his head; he kept the peace. He 
had plenty of chances to smash France forever ; he did not take 
them. 

An ambitious prince might have put a relative on the throne 
of Louis XIV while France was torn by the Boulanger affair, 
the Panama scandal, the Dreyfus horror, when Diogenes might 
have gone through France with a modern searchlight for his 
lantern without finding a single man who was not a traitor to 
his country, or at least to the Republic, and the most trust- 
worthy man of affairs was he, who could be trusted to put the 
' ' double-cross ' ' on every one. The Kaiser never stirred. 

It would have been easy to destroy the Russian menace at 
the time, when Japan was straining the sinews of the Tartar 
giant, or when the Moscow Revolution showed that the Tsar 
could not trust his own soldiers, and the Imperial Guard, hastily 
summoned from St. Petersburg, shut up the garrison of Mos- 
cow in the Kremlin, trained their own guns upon them, and 
disarmed them. The Kaiser did nothing. He kept tlie peace." 

Thus an eminent Englishman's view of the Kaiser. But he's 
not alone in his land to hold such view. 

The Archbishop of York, addressing a mass meeting in 
London, stated: "I resent exceedingly the gross and vulgar 
way in which the German Emperor has been treated 
in British newspapers, particularly in some of our 



44 NEUTRALITY 

comic papers. I have a personal memory of the Em- 
peror, very sacred to me, which makes me feel that it is 
with great reluctance that he felt himself compelled to accept 
the fact that owing to the conduct of our ministers, he had 
involved himself in war with England, and I believe I still can 
speak with admiration and charity about the great German 
people and its exalted ruler." Whom will Americans rather 
believe — the Archbishop of London or that " candy" minister of 
Madison Square? 

In the 1915 January issue of the Sunset Magazine appeared 
an article by Sir Gilbert Parker, one of England's foremost and 
celebrated writers. In this article Sir Gilbert writes: 

1 ' The maker of this world war is the Kaiser and the Kaiser is 
mad. I do not mean that he is a lunatic, but I do mean that 
he's the victim of Megalomania, an advertising agent and a 
Bombastos Furioso, " etc., etc., and continuing in this strain the 
article covers several pages. 

In 1913, in June, the same Sir Gilbert Parker had this to 
say about the same Kaiser: "The highest praise that I can 
offer concerning Emperor William II is that Tie would have 
made as good a King of England as our history has provided, 
and as good a President of the United States as any since George 
Washington. 

It was said of the Emperor William that he was mediaeval 
in his war spirit, but he has proved himself to be a modern 
keeper of the peace. The world owes the Emperor William a 
debt of gratitude. He might have found cause to reap advan- 
tage from European embroilment of his own making, but he 
has proved himself among the most civilized internationally 
patriotic of rulers," 

Quite another story, isn't it? 

CHAPTER XII 

The Kaiser a Shining Example of Labor, Prayer and Purpose. 

Lord Argyle, the great Englishman and a most intimate 
friend of his King, George the Fifth, speaking at a meeting in 
London, said: "The German Emperor's life has been worthy 
of his father and of his mother, and no higher praise can be 
rendered in grateful acknowledgment of a great career— great 
with the abounding blessings of peace through steadfastly striv- 
ing for strength, and duty done for his people and his justice to 



NEUTRALITY 45 

his neighbors. This generation of Germans has good reason to 
be proud and to love their patriotic Emperor." 

Last, but not least, let us quote another popular English- 
man, the well known author and playwright, philanthro- 
pist, Jewish leader and so-called " empire-builder, ' ' Mr. Israel 
Zangwill. He's credited also with having been mainly instru- 
mental in forming a distinctly Jewish regiment, composed of 
the most intelligent Jews of London. Mr. Zangwill is the leader 
of the great Zionist movement, purporting the establishment of 
the new Jewish kingdom in Palestine. 

Mr. Zangwill is very much thought of in England, not only 
as a great literary genius, but also as a patriot. He's equally 
well known in America and there are few of us who have not 
read his works or saw his play, "The Melting Pot," so success- 
fully produced in New York City. 

In an article contributed to the New York American on 
January 16, 1915, he characterizes the Kaiser a "Shining 
Example of Labor, Prayer and Purpose." 

One wonders what the English thought of Zangwill after 
the publication of that article, and his American Jewish friends 
wonder also whether he'll offer the Jewish throne in Jerusalem 
to one of his Cossack friends. It has been suggested that the 
publisher of the New York Times is an eminently fit person for 
the job. "Adolphus" I. is a good Jew and seems to know much 
about how to run empires. Times readers are sure he could 
ably fill the job, and what he does not know he may learn from 
his ally and friend, Nicolaus the First of Petrograd, Managing 
Director of "Pogrom & Co., Unlimited — chartered and financed 
in London for the exploitation of a special brand of civiliza- 
tion and liberty. Marconi shares taken in exchange ! ! " 

Some of our American editors and American statesmen had, 
prior to the outbreak of this war, their own ideas and opinions 
about this "monster" called the Kaiser. An editorial from our 
neutral N. Y. Sun may be of timely interest. And we all know 
"if it's in the Sun it's so." The editorial appeared April 16, 
1906. It's entitled: "The United States arid Germany." It- 
reads as follows: 

"A profound impression seems to have been produced in 
Germany by the speech made by Mr. Roosevelt the other day to 
German veterans in Washington, the speech in the course of 
which he recognized the sincere love of peace attested by the 
German Emperor through his representatives at the Morocco 
Conference. 



46 NEUTRALITY 

" There is no doubt that the President's (Roosevelt) cordial 
and laudatory words reflected the feeling of the great body of 
his countrymen, which has undergone a signal change since 
events have indicated that there is no reason to impute schemes 
of aggression and conquest to the German sovereign. Of antip- 
athy to the Germans as a people — or to their Emperor William, 
there has never been a trace in the United States. 

"If we except the English, the Scotch and the Irish, there 
are no human beings so closely allied to us by blood, language, 
literature, institutions, laws and customs as are the natives of 
the Fatherland; while, as for their sovereign, we scarcely need 
recall the fact that English is his mother tongue. But while 
naturally we should be drawn to the Germans by so many affini- 
ties, we have been for a time repelled by the suspicion that 
Emperor William II was a menace to the peace of the world. 

' l Nor would he assert, we imagine, that there is no pretext for 
the distrust. The seizure and retention of Kiaochau bore wit- 
ness to a, Far Eastern policy diametrically opposed to our own 
wish to uphold the political independence and territorial integ- 
rity of China. (The Sun may be more contented now since 
Kiaochau is in the hands of the Japs. — Author's note.) 

"There has also been a disposition, perhaps unjust, on this 
side of the Atlantic, to hold the Emperor responsible for the 
avowed desire of the German colonial party to acquire a foot- 
hold in the New World either by the purchase of an island in 
the Caribbean, or by the assumption of a protectorate over the 
large German settlement in the Brazilian province of Rio Grande 
de Sal. 

"It is -also true that we have shared to a certain extent the 
misgivings entertained in France, at the time when most of 
Russia's military strength had been diverted to the further end 
of Asia, lest the German sovereign should seize the opportunity 
to gain possession of Holland or by some other high handed 
act upset the balance of power in Europe. 

"For these reasons we viewed with satisfaction the estab- 
lishment of an 'Entente cordiale' between France and Great 
Britain, together with the growing disposition of Italy to treat 
the Triple Alliance as a dead letter and to cast in her lot with 
the French Republic. 

"It was not, however, that Americans liked the Germans 
less, but that they loved peace more. As we look back over 
the past two years, we must admit that there was but little 



NEUTRALITY 47 

ground for the uneasiness with which we weighed the utter- 
ances and watched the movements of the Emperor William II. 
"Had that sovereign really been actuated by the lawless 
and unscrupulous ambition which impelled Frederick the Great 
to ravish the Austrian province of Silesia, he would have laid 
his grasp on Holland or crossed the French frontier within a 
week after the battle of Mukden. That was the psychological 

moment. , , 

"None knew it better than himself, and beyond a doubt he 
would have turned it to account had he held human life and 
international peace as lightly as he was accused of holding 
them. The fact that he put away temptation, though it came 
to him in most seductive guise, should have convinced fair- 
minded onlookers that William II is not only a great man; he 
is a good man." . , 

Thus the Sun in 1906. Most of us are well acquainted with 
what the Sun of 1914 and 1915 thinks, said and published about 
this very same Kaiser of 1906. The author's personal regard 
for the Sun forbids him to make any comments about the con- 
temptible conduct it has shown towards the Kaiser and his 
people in this great crisis, and he leaves it to the readers of the 
Sun to be the judges of the paper's double-faced attitude and 
policy. 

CHAPTER XIII 

T. R. 

The above quoted editorial was based upon a speech made by 
Theodore Roosevelt, who was at that time our President. In 
view of the recent utterances of this man, it may be interesting 
to us to know what he thought and said of the Kaiser. 
The "Tough Rider" of San Juan Hill said: 
"The one man outside this country from ivhom I obtained 
help bringing about the peace of Portsmouth teas his Majesty, 
William II. From no other nation did I receive any assistance, 
but the Emperor, personally, was of real aid in helping to 
induce Russia to face the accomplished fact and come to an 
agreement with Japan — an agreement the justice of which to 
both sides was conclusively shown by the fact that neither side 
was satisfied with it. This was a real help to the cause of inter- 
national peace, a contribution that far outweighed any amount 
of mere talk about it in the abstract, for in this, as in all other 



48 N E U T E A L I T Y 

matters, an ounce of performance is worth a ton of promise." 
Thus spoke President Roosevelt in 1906. Eight years later 
the private citizen Roosevelt, when he opened his mouth, proved 
himself to be a cheap blatherskite, unprincipled demagogue and 
worthy president and founder of the Ananias Club. There's 
a Hungarian proverb which says : ' ' From a foolish hole a fool- 
ish wind blows." As Roosevelt likes the Hungarians and in 
fact everything Hungarian, including their ' ' goulash, ' ' he 11 also 
appreciate the above quotation. 

In Roosevelt's opera bouffe heroics the world discerns again 
the fantastic vaporings of the reincorporated General Bourn 
of Offenbach of comic opera fame. 

The only vestige of dignity retained by him is the memory 
that he at one time filled the presidential office. His gross igno- 
rance is graphically exposed by a paper fighting on his side 
now, the New York Sun, which takes him to task for preaching 
the doctrine that the United States are committed to go to war 
with Germany because of their obligations under the Hague 
treaty, when, as a matter of fact, France and England refused 
to sign the articles whose obligations Col. Roosevelt says we 
have failed ''with criminal timidity" to fulfill. 

Col. Roosevelt, who has time and time again been accused by 
the press and his fellow-citizens of "stealing" the Panama Canal 
Zone from Colombia and who, repeatedly, declared that the 
Kaiser liad done more to bring about peace between Russia and 
Japan than any otlier man, has since had intermittent relapses 
into fits of abuse directed against the Kaiser for invading Bel- 
gium, and is now busy raising an army to rush to the aid of 
England as soon as Wall Street and the Money Trust give the 
signal for war. 

Roosevelt and his paladins, Root, Lodge, Bacon, Choate, Ben- 
nett, and the rest, are secretly agitating for war, and have prom- 
ised that when England has been sufficiently weakened to need 
help, the United States will come to her rescue with her fleet. 
Oh, yes, she will ! ! "With ' ' Admiral ' ' Roosevelt on the bridge, 
navigating the River of Doubt. 

Without knowing it, those of the Americans who are in 
active sympathy with the German and Austro-Hungarian cause 
may have good reason to thank Providence that Theodore 
Roosevelt is not now the tenant of the White House in Wash- 
ington. 

This rough citizen's remarkable change of attitude toward 
Germany, an attitude popularly supposed to be one of sincere 



NEUTRALI T Y 49 

appreciation of German culture and friendship for the German 
Emperor, to one of pronounced antagonism, marked by clam- 
orous appeals to the passion of the American people, over the 
violation of Belgium neutrality, is clearly explained by the 
light of these revelations, for, of course, as ex-president he must 
know of the coalition against Germany, and he must have 
admitted Prof. Eliot, Prof. Usher and ex- Ambassador Bacon into 
his confidence. 

Prof. Usher was formerly assistant Professor of History at 
Harvard, and there we have the connection one with the other. 
This, too, may explain the passage in Bryan's letter to Count 
Bernstorff of April 22, 1915: "That the relations of the two 
Governments with one another cannot wisely be made a subject 
of discussion with a third government, which cannot be fully in- 
formed as to the facts, and which cannot be fully cognizant of the 
reasons for the course pursued." 

Neither can the plain American people be made fully cog- 
nizant of what's going on in the White House— though we're 
supposed to have a government of the people, for the people 
and^by the people! Empty phrases and hollow mockery!! 

President Wilson has declared not once only, but many 
times, that the voice of the plain people could not he heard in 
Washington; that the truth is seldom heard in those political 
circles ; that the environment is highly unfavorable to any right 
appreciation of the common people's desires and opinions. 

That is the truth. And never was that more true than in 
this critical time. 

But the plain people have not forgotten that counsel. They 
remember that advice. They believe in it. They adhere to it. 
"Not in Washington, amid the jealousies and f awnings and 
schemings of paid agents and flexible politicians; not in the 
rooms of clubs and the corridors of glittering hotels ; not in the 
board rooms, where rich directors knock knees under the mahog- 
any ; not in newspapers whose owners are knit by ties of finance 
and matrimony to aristocracies and huge interests across the 
sea; not in such environments is heard the true voice of the 
American people. ' ' 

That voice is heard in the shop, in the street car, at the 

factory door, in the village street, in the farm house, and where 

men in the homely garb of labor meet to talk and to conjecture. 

Let him who would hear what the voice of the workers has 

to say in this time of anxiety, go among the men who work. 



50 N E U T R A L I TT 

There stands the record — Lexington and Bunker Hill and 
Valley Forge and Saratoga and Yorktown and New Orleans 
and the long roster that begins with Manassas and ends with 
Appomattox, and recites those fields of battle upon which our 
fathers struggled with one another until all the world stood still 
and amazed to see their dauntless and equal valor. 

Let these memories penetrate the foggj^, muddled and fever- 
struck brain of that "has been" of Oyster Bay. One may just 
as well dismiss him, with the public statement of Mr. Garri- 
son, Secretary of War, in which he relates that one night in a 
dingy railway station in western Nebraska, he heard four rough 
and rugged ranchmen, who had just got a newspaper, discussing 
the "Garrison and Eoosevelt controversy." 

Finally, one of them said: "Teddy reminds me of an old 
bull on my ranch. He has but one eye and one horn. He can 't 
fight, but he bellows all the time. ' ' 

CHAPTER XIV 

Hyphen Defies Roosevelt. 

The ' ' Irish Voice ' ' says : 

"T. R. left the jungle of South Africa some time ago and 
came to America. Whilst in the jungle he mingled with bray- 
ing, rip-roaring, shrieking animals and he has been braying, rip- 
roaring and shrieking ever since. 

His latest roar was to the effect that America should enter 
the European war on the side of his dearly beloved "Kink." 
His latest shriek was that the "Hypenated American must 
go." . . . 

If T. R. knows anything about the history of the German 
and Irish- Americans in America, he knows that they were ever 
the most loyal defenders and the most sterling citizens of which 
America can truly boast. 

This is American history and on this ground they fear no 
man, much less a 'Teddy.' . . 

This modern Falstaff, who lied about the River of Doubt, 
who hunted wild game in Africa well guarded by lion tamers, 
moving picture cameras and pale-faced Anglo-Hottentots, 
was a political accident. Of all the Presidents, he was positively 
the worst. He is a political swashbuckler who is again attempt- 
ing to wade to his desire through seas of mud. He has long posed 
as a 'man of blood and iron,' but it's known he has been nearer 
the man of Tennessee coal and iron. " . . . 

It's no wonder that he yells for the Allies. It's due to one of 
their creatures, the Russian Czolgosz — who killed McKinley — 
what made Roosevelt President. 



NEUTRALITY 51 

"We have heard enough of Eoosevelt. He would prefer 
calling 'Buck' O'Neill, the real hero of San Juan Hill, an Anglo- 
Saxon instead of an Irish- American, not giving America the 
benefit of the hyphenation. The Afro-American troops which 
saved the Rough Rider Regiment from extermination and gave 
Roosevelt a chance to shoot fleeing Spaniards in the back, he 
would prefer to call 'niggers.' 

Because the 'Hyphens' believe in and fight for these truly 
American things, ' T. R. ' says they are a menace to America and 
must go. Not wishing to give them a. chance to go the way of 
their people who fought for and helped to build America, he 
shouts : "To h with you. ' ' 

This politician of the township of Oyster Bay held office from 
the time he quit school till the country kicked him out good 
and hard and had he possessed one grain of modesty, had not 
his hide been thicker than the hide of a rhinoceros, he would 
have stayed where he was kicked. And to think that this fel- 
low's mug done in oil adorns the clubroom of a Hungarian re- 
publican club — and to think that Hungarian and German voters 
voted for him ! — God forgive them ! 

Having learned the views of one ex-President on the Kaiser, 
permit us to quote the view of another ex-President — that of 
Wm. H. Taft. Mr. Ta,ft said: "The truth of history requires 
the verdict that, considering the critically important part which 
has been Emperor William's among the nations, he has been, 
for the last quarter of a century, the greatest single individual 
force in the practical maintenance of peace in the world. ' ' 

Pretty good testimonials, and ought to be accepted in any 
court of jurymen composed of decent, intelligent and honest 
Americans. 

As for the cheap, vulgar language exercised in some of our 
press in denouncing the Kaiser, it can only be said that the 
Emperor can well stand such vituperation, since it is deeds that 
count, not violent, vulgar words. For William II, by his broad 
patriotism and keen intelligence, in agriculture, municipal 
organization, manufactures and commerce, in the Empire's 
power to fight efficiently and defend itself at this juncture from 
six belligerent powers — maintaining at the same time half a 
century of absolute peace — he, reviled, and traduced and equally 
adored, Jias done for the prosperity of Germany more than any 
one man, hardly excepting Father Washington himself, for these 
United States. . . . 



CHAPTER XV 

Francis Joseph I. 

"Chevalier sans Peur et sans Eeproche." 

Praise and justice is due to the venerable, noble ally and 
friend, the Emperor and King of Austro-Hungary. 

Francis Joseph enjoys the benefits of a situation created 
and strengthened by his predecessors. Since a youth of eighteen 
— he ascended the throne in 1848 — he has won the hearts of his 
subjects. He has slied the seeds of kindness and lias reaped the 
•most magnificent harvest of love that ever surrounded a popular 
monarch. 

It is not easy tp sum up the venerable monarch 's qualities ; 
the most striking are his chivalrous spirit, his high sense of 
duty combined with admirable self-denial for the good of his 
people, his broad-minded conceptions of social and political 
evolution, Ms tolerance for human shortcomings, save such as 
are contrary to the principles of honor. 

Francis Joseph might aptly be described as the last crowned 
knight. In many respects, his ideals are those of the times 
when the "chevalier sans peur et sans reproche" incorporated 
all that was noble and worthy in the eyes of our forefathers; 
yet, he has understood the requirements of modern life and 
whatever his own inclinations may have been, he has promoted 
and encouraged changes which enabled Austria-Hungary to 
keep apace with the nations of Western Europe in all fields of 
civilization, culture, liberty and activity. 



52 




i'i iii i i i ii ii i iM i ii i i i iiii w nw 



MMK 







FRANCIS JOSEPH I. 



CHAPTER XVI 

Fish Stories. 

GERMAN RIGHT AND CENTRE BOTH IN RETREAT 
BEFORE ALLIES FORCED TO ABANDON WOUNDED 

BRITISH CAPTURE 11 GUNS. 



This is from the Sun of September 12th, and one notes the 
great importance which the Sun gives to rather vague and gen- 
eral news. A little later it will be shown, for the purpose of 
contrast, how the papers announced the fall of Maubeuge with 
40,000 prisoners and 400 cannon. 

An intensely funny headline in the New York Sun of Sep- 
tember 5th reads: 

CZAR STARTS 800,000 MEN TOWARD BERLIN. 

The only redeeming feature of the asininity of this headline 
artist is that it's true. Most of the 800,000 men have reached 
Berlin — as prisoners of war— along with another million more 
who started later, but the Sun has evidently forgotten to chron- 
icle the arrival of them in the gay capital of Emperor William. 

There is a daily in New York Avhieh, because its newspaper 
publishing does not pay, tries to enrich its exchequer by selling 
fish. Hence also the abundance of fish stories in its columns. 
This paper is the New York Globe. Not to be outdone by its 
rival, the Sun, in regard to the movement of the Czar's army 
towards Berlin, it announced this "fishy" story: 

ON TO BERLIN, CRY OF ARMY OF THE CZAR. 

AFTER CROSSING THE VISTULA, VICTORIOUS RUS- 
SIANS WILL GO STRAIGHT TO GERMAN CAPITAL, 
SAYS COL. OSNOBICHIN, RUSSIAN MILITARY AT- 
TACHE AT PARIS— STORY OF GERMAN RETREAT. 



"Paris. — Colonel Osnobichin, Russian military attache here, 
is quoted by the Journal as having remarked in an interview 
that he could say without indiscretion that other armies were 
about to invade western Prussia. After crossing the Vistula, 
he said, the Russians would march straight to Berlin. 



54 NEUTRALITY 

In this headline from the New York Globe, the wish was 
father to the thought. Col. Osnobichin, sitting in Paris, an- 
nounced that the Russians would march straight to Berlin. 

They may do this yet if they keep retreating, by the simple 
expedient of retreating straight around the world until they 
back into Berlin from the west. 

GERMANS WHO MENACED PARIS 

NOW IN PRECIPITATE FLIGHT. 

GUNS, SUPPLIES ABANDONED 

The N. T. Sun, Sept. 13, 1914. 



This is some more exaggeration on the part of the Sun 
and it furnishes an excellent comparison of how the Sun 
headlined the German withdiawal from the Marne; in contrast 
with the announcement which we read before, that "Tommy 
Atkins was a fine fighter in retreat, ' ' characterizing the attitude 
of the Sun toward the British retreat — which was concededly a 
precipitate one. In other words, the Sun has reversed the facts 
in both instances. 

CRACKLING OF GERMAN DEFENSE 

MEANS RETREAT FROM FRANCE 

The N. Y. Sun, Sept. 22, 1914. 



CENTRE WEAKENS— RIGHT IN PERIL DESPITE BAY- 
ONET CHARGES— REPORT GEN. VON KLUCK MOVED 
HEADQUARTERS BACK TO MONS. 



This is again sensationalism in the headlines of the sup- 
posedly conservative Sun. It is remarkable how even those who 
boast of their conservatism, become wildly excited in moments 
of hope and speculation. It must be observed that this headline 
is also editorial comment. From the authentic facts of history, 
which we have in our possession today, we know that there was 
nothing in the withdrawal of the German Army from the Marne 
which justified such speculation. 

With that headline before us, it must be patent, in view of 
the authentic facts that we have today, that the object of pub- 
lishing such headlines was: 

First. To create a wild hysterical, unreasoned public opin- 
ion in favor of the Allies which would produce for them some 
practical benefits — by the inflaming of the American public 



NEUTRALITY 55 

mind to such an extent as to make it possible for certain British 
influences in the United States to precipitate the United States 
into the war on the side of the Allies ; or, 

Second. Failing in this, to make the United States a base of 
supplies for the Allies to carry on their war against Germany, 
using the English Merchant Marine as the transports for the 
supplies. 

While these efforts have failed in the first instance, it must 
be conceded that they have succeeded in accomplishing their 
purpose in the second. 

The capture of Maubeuge was one of the greatest triumphs 
of the German army in the war. Maubeuge was one of the 
strongest French positions and strongholds on the Belgian fron- 
tier. The Germans report that in the capture of this great 
fortress they took 40,000 prisoners and 400 guns. It is inter- 
esting to observe how the New York Herald has attached to 
this report the clause of doubt — "Berlin says." It is remark- 
able how these lying newspapers refused to take responsibility 
for the truth. 

MAUBEUGE, BIG FRENCH FORTRESS ON THE 
BELGIAN FRONTIER, TAKEN, BERLIN SAYS 

The N. Y. Herald, Sept. 10, 1914. 



This account was published on an inside page of the Her- 
ald, and furnishes an excellent illustration of how the news- 
papers have minimized the reports of great German victories. 

According to accepted rules in newspaper offices, this account 
should have been printed — particularly in view' of the standard 
set by the papers in announcing Allied questionable victories on 
the front page — in big black headlines. 

Knowing the so-called "neutrality" of our papers, it does 
not require a great effort of the imagination to picture the size 
of the headlines which would have announced to the American 
people a similar victory on the part of the Allies. 

MAUBEUGE FALLEN, BERLIN REPORTS. 



This is a headline from the New York Tribune. It was lo- 
cated on the fourth page. The Tribune has treated this news 
with the same contempt as the Herald. Apparently, the news- 
papers have an agreement upon this matter, or, if not an agree- 
ment, a mutual feeling which is as effective as a perfect under- 
standing. 



56 NEUTRALITY 

The Tribune is manifestly a pro-British newspaper. In order 
to indicate this point, one has only to read the speech of the 
late Whitelaw Reid, owner of the New York Tribune, made 
before a Chamber of Commerce dinner in London, in which he 
said: "The time has visibly drawn near when solidarity of race t 
if not of government, is to prevail." 

There are other parts of this speech indicating that the 
Tribune has allied itself on this side of the propaganda, hav- 
ing for its object the destruction of the sovereignty of the 
United States and the creation of a new world empire known 
as "The British- American Union. " 

It is not, therefore, a matter of surprise that the New York 
Tribune deliberately falsifies reports of Allied defeats and 
minimizes German victories. 



CHAPTER XVII 
Dum-Bum Bullets. 

All will remember the consternation that was created 
throughout the entire civilized world when it became known 
that "Dum-Dum" bullets were found on the English. 

Of course, the English denied that they ever used "Dum- 
Dum" bullets and offered the cheap excuse that they could not 
understand how they ever happened to be given to their troops, 
as they were intended for game shooting. To our disgrace, be 
it said, it was found that the bullets were manufactured by an 
United States Cartridge Factory, located in Bridgeport, Conn. 

Mr. James O'Domiell Bennett, of the Chicago Tribune, 
writes in an article to his paper: "Of the 60,000 Dum-Dum 
bullets, I do not speak from hearsay, I helped to open and 
helped to photograph several boxes of these diabolical missiles. 
The 60,000 Dum-Dum bullets packed in reinforced boxes that 
were piled high in the mayor's office at Maubeuge." 

What is most important in this matter is the voluntary and 
frank confession made under oath by a colonel of the Gordon 
Highlanders who was captured by the Germans and on whose 
person as well as on others who were captured and are now 
prisoners in Germany, these "Dum-Dum" bullets were found. 

Col. Gordon testified : 

"It was used at Plymouth with revolver ammunition. It. 
was flat-nosed. As I was in doubt about it being correct am- 



NEUTRALITY 57 

munition and being unable to obtain any information from 
superior authority concerning the matter, I put my revolver 
ammunition in the ground four days before the Mons (August 
23) engagement, which was the first time I met the German 
Army. At the same time, I placed my revolver in my heavy 
baggage and never carried it again. The revolver ammuni- 
tion was of the same pattern as issued to me and the other 
officers of the Gordon Highlanders in June last to fire their 
annual revolver course." 

(Signed) W. E. Gordon, Colonel, Gordon Highlanders, A. D. 
C. to the King. 

The bullets having been found on Englishmen, the New York 
Times, in an article of Sunday, the 7th of February, 1915, writ- 
ten by Colonel La Carde, says : ' ' The Dum-Dum bullet is not so 
bad as it is painted. " Of course, found on the English "it is 
not so bad, ' ' but one can imagine how ' ' bad ' ' it would have been 
had it been found on German soldiers. The Times' hypocritical 
attitude in this dastardly crime needs no further comment. 
The double-facedness of this "Janus" of the American press is 
beyond all criticism. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

The Russian Debacle. 

The Russian advance in East Prussia during the early weeks 
of the war furnished excellent material for the headline 
jugglers. This is how the World described the effect upon 
Berlin : 

WEALTHY DESERT BERLIN AS VICTORIOUS 

RUSSIANS SWEEP THROUGH PRUSSIA 

The N. T. World, Aug. 27, 1914. 



This news item came from London. Some quotations culled 
from Thomas Jefferson about London, as a source of news, are 
very enlightening. In a letter to a Mrs. Cosway in 1786 Jef- 
ferson writes : 

"Vfhen you consider the character that is given our coun- 
try, by the lying newspapers of London, and their credulous 
copiers in other countries, when you reflect that all Europe is 
made to believe that we are a lawless banditti in a state of abso- 



58 NEUTRALITY 

lute anarchy, cutting one another's throat, and plundering 
without distinction, how can you expect that any reasonable 
creature would venture among us. ' ' 

Apparently London has not changed in this respect, because 
it is picturing Germany now as it once painted our country. 

Upon another occasion Jefferson said, speaking of a false 
item of news emanating from English sources : 

"This, I suppose, the compilers took from English papers, 
tJiose infamous fountains of falsehood. It is not surprising 
that our newspapers continue to copy from these newspapers, 
although any one who knows anything of them, knows that 
they are written by persons who never go out of their garret 
or read a paper. 

"What the English newspapers said of remonstrances, so 
far as I can learn from those who would have known it, or who 
would have told it to me, is false, as everything is false, that 
these papers ever did say or ever will say. ' ' 

Again Jefferson said, relative to American news editors and 
writers : 

"These authors have been led into an infinitude of errors, 
probably by trusting to the English papers. It is impossible to 
resort to a more impure source." 

American newspaper editors will hardly fail in their duties 
towards their readers if they heed and follow a Jeffersonian 
advice. 

THE RUSSIANS' ADVANCE IS 

IRRESISTIBLE AND OVERWHELMING 

The N. Y. Herald, Aug. 26, 1914. 



That is the Herald's opinion of the Russians' advance. It 
will be seen a little later how it suited the German plans. It 
was proved by contrast, how they dignified the Russian ad- 
vance in great headlines, whilst they suppressed its collapse 
by small headlines and accounts hard to find. The most re- 
markable part of these news items is that it showed the pre- 
paredness of Russia. It is quite evident that the ability of 
Russia to advance any distance in East Prussia and the tem- 
porary inability of the Germans to prevent it, shows previous 
preparation on the part of Russia, which not even the method- 
ical and perfect German mobilization could prevent for a very 
short period. 



NEUTRALITY 59 

RUSSIANS EXPECT TO OPEN 

ROADS TO VIENNA AND BERLIN 

The N. Y. Sun, Sept. 4, 1914. 

They were opening and closing them ' ' all right-all right, ' ' as 
the Germans put their Russian prisoners to build and repair 
roads. 

Perhaps the most glaring suppression of information ever 
practiced by American newspapers was in the case of the battle 
between the Germans and Russians near Tannenburg— Ortels- 
Dur g — Gilgenburg. Only an inkling of the extent of this conflict 
reached the public. Through German sources finally the news 
percolated that 93,000 prisoners had been taken. Finally, it 
became known that the Russian dead alone totaled 150,000. 

This battle has been described by the Imperial Chancellor 
as the greatest battle in the history of the world. It is as- 
serted that a German Army of 85,000 men under General Von 
Hindenburg destroyed a. Russian Army of 285,000 men, cap- 
tured 93,000, killing 150,000, and put the remainder to flight— 
with comparatively small losses. It is therefore of extreme im- 
portance from the American viewpoint to know how the news- 
papers reported this wonderful battle. 

The story goes that after the battle of Tannenburg the Czar 
put a price of 200,000 rubles on the head of General Von 
Hindenburg, brought to him dead or alive. When Von Hinden- 
burg was told of this, it is said he remarked: "I thank his 
Majesty, the Czar of all Russians, for his high compliment in 
valuing my head so dearly— I wouldn't give thirty cents for 
his." 

30,000 RUSSIANS TAKEN, SAYS BERLIN. 

This is from the New York Herald of September 1st, 
1914. It will be noticed that this is what might be called a 
minor account. It is located in the second column of the paper 
in a very obscure place. The Herald of September 2nd is abso- 
lutely silent upon this great victory, while its issue of September 
3rd belittled it. 

GERMANS TAKE 70,000. 

The N. Y. Tribune, Sept. 2, 1914. 

Adding the clause of doubt, ' ' they say. ' ' 



60 NEUTRALITY 

RUSSIANS ROUTED BY GERMANS IN PRUSSIA. 

Said the New York Tribune next day. 

This account was published on the second page in the 
middle of the second column. It will be observed that this 
account is a confirmation of the great German victory from the 
Russian General Staff and yet it was not given the right of way 
in the great headlines of the paper. 

The New York Times published the account upon the second 
page, bottom of fifth column. It is quite apparent that the 
Times, together with its contemporaries, did not desire that 
the American people should regard this great victory as of any 
importance. One can imagine the importance that would have 
been given to such a victory if it had been won by the Rus- 
sians over the Germans. Considering that the publisher of 
the New York Times is himself a German Jew, it has for a long 
time been a mystery why the New York Times has been the most 
active champion of the allied interests in America. The mystery 
has since been cleared up. 

The Times did not wait for Germany to violate the neutrality 
of Belgium before it began to open its batteries on everything 
German. There was no Belgian invasion when the Times began 
its championship of England and her allies. It was several days 
ahead of Sir Edward Grey's shrewd move to shift the responsi- 
bility for the war upon the shoulders of Germany. 

Everything that England and her Allies have done was and 
is right. With the Times it has been, consistently, not 
" America first," but "England first," and Germany last, as 
stated above. The mystery has been cleared since — just men- 
tion "Marconi" and see the Times get furious. 

In order to gain a clear conception of what the Times has 
done during the past shameful year, Mr. Charles A. Collman 
a well-known journalist and author, in an article, printed 
in the Fatherland, gives conclusive proof that during this war 
Mr. Ochs has been printing in his New York Times a daily series 
of ' * fake stories in furtherance of an ignoble end. " " The Turks 
are shooting their German officers, ' ' and ' ' There is panic in Con- 
stantinople. " Nobody has been trying to deceive the Times. 
These are all "special cable dispatches" from its English cor- 
respondents in Athens, Geneva, Rome, Cairo, Copenhagen, Petro- 
grad. 



NEUTRALITY 61 

"But this fake news is directly contradicted by the truthful 
reports sent in by the neutral American correspondents of the 
American Associated Press. 

"At the very time when the lying English correspondent says 
that the Turkish Sultan is fleeing from Constantinople, the 
Sultan gives an interview in his palace in Constantinople to the 
American Associated Press correspondent, praising in un- 
measured terms the Germans, whom the English would have 
us believe are being "shot by the Turks." 

"Why does Mr. Ochs subordinate the honest American dis- 
patches of the Associated Press and play up the "fake" news 
of the venal British propaganda ? If his correspondent in Pat- 
erson or Albany were to send in "fake" stories, he would dis- 
charge him on the spot. Why then, does he not discharge his 
English correspondents, who have been sending him "fake" 
despatches ? 

"Is this intelligent journalism? Yes, because it is corrupt 
journalism. These fakes, printed in the New York Times, sus- 
tain the waning British credit, and incidentally sustain Mr. 
Ochs himself. — "There's a reason!" . . . 

SAY GERMANS TOOK 70,000 RUSSIANS. 



On Sept. 2d the Times published the above account of this 
great battle containing more details. This account was pub- 
lished upon the third page, third column. 

It should be noted here that the number of Russians cap- 
tured, according to the official reports which we have received, 
actually amounted to 93,000. This battle extended several 
days, w r hich explains the difference in figures, as reported on 
Sept. 1st and September 2nd. 

GREATEST DAY OF BATTLES IN 

HISTORY ENGAGES SIX MILLION MEN 

The N. T. Sun, Sept. 2, 1914. 



The Sun is one of the few papers which printed this 
news upon its front page. It asserted that 120,000 Russians 
were killed and 70,000 taken prisoners, but although the 
Sun apparently was much impressed with this tremendous vic- 
tory, it gave it only secondary importance in its headlines. 



62 NEUTRALITY 

On September 3rd, the Sun again ran an account of this 
battle saying: 

GERMANS HAVE CAPTURED 70,000 

RUSSIANS, ST. PETERSBURG SAYS 



It is rather interesting to study this headline. It is a veri- 
fication of the German report from St. Petersburg; yet, the 
Sun has placed it in the smallest type of all its headlines on 
the page. Yet the Sun was the only New York paper that print- 
ed an account of any eye witness of the battle. The Sun writes : 

1 ' The Russian position was practically this : On the out- 
side the land sloped up toward the surrounding enemy : on the 
inside was a network of swamps and lakes; on the fourth side, 
escape was possible only through swamps and boggy streams. 
Then followed one of the most frightful battles of history, a 
battle which caused some of the German officers to go mad 
from its very horrors. The Germans closed in, concentrating 
a terrible fire on the Russians, who were unable to maneuver 
their guns, which sank in the mud. Horses and men became 
embogged. The nature of the region caused the Russians to 
break up into helpless groups, many of which forced their way 
further and further into the awful swamps." 

The Sun was the only paper to print this description and 
the readers of the other papers remained in ignorance of one 
of the most terrible scenes of warfare in human history and a 
Russian disaster of unparalleled magnitude up to that date. 
Later, worse things came, but the very worst is yet to come. 

When the Russians occupied Lemberg our "neutral" Press 
could not find adequate expression to glorify this "victory of 
Russian arms," which was really not a victory of arms, as 
Lemberg was starved out. But when later the Russians were 
kicked out of Lemberg by the Austrian and German forces the 
same New York papers sneeringly referred to the small im- 
portance of Lemberg as strategical importance in the Eastern 
Zone of the war. 

The New York Press, one of the Munsey publications, for 
instance, had this to say editorially: " While Lemberg falling 
more than half a year after it seemed to have come securely 
into possession of the Russians must be scored as a magnificent 







WBBMBmBBMm 



GENERAL VON HINDENBURG. 



NEUTRALITY 



63 



feat of Germany's matchless military machine, it cannot bring 
the Berlin War Party nearer the ultimate triumph, it cannot 
even shake off that innumerable Russian mass from the flank 
of Prussia itself, not to forget the shattered Austria, now less 
capable of self-support than before the Czar's vast armies 
rolled into Galicia like the sweep of the measureless sea. 

"The Kaiser cannot for- 
ever beat back the Russians 
with his legions in the East 
and fight out this war in the 
rest of Europe, where it must 
be fought out. He cannot 
leave the East to the guar- 
dianship of the helpless Aus- 
trians without having to per- 
form over again the task he 
is just now performing tri- 
umphantly in Galicia and on 
the Czar's frontier; for the 
inexhaustible Russians will 
come back; they will always 
come back. ' ' 

What must one think of this editorial "Boob" as a military 
expert ? 

The editor of this paper makes his annual pilgrimage to 
the wonderful healing springs of Carlsbad, in Austria— to 
have his own "shattered" health repaired. One wonders when 
he gets there the next time — whether he'll find the Austrians 
i ' helpless " to do him any good. . . . , 




— Philadelphia Evening Ledger. 
"GOOD NIGHT." 



CHAPTER XIX 
Louvain. 

On August 29th, the world was startled by the report that 
the Germans had "wantonly" burned Louvain. It afterward 
developed that German soldiers were slaughtered upon the 
streets of Louvain by the treacherous populace whose safety 
had been assured by the Belgian authorities. Under the rules 
of war the Germans were justified in burning the city for their 
own protection. 

The Sun in bold headlines said : 

LOUVAIN BURNED BY THE GERMANS; 

ONLY THE HOTEL DE VILLE SAVED 



The statement was not true. Other great public buildings 
and objects of art in Louvain were preserved by the Germans. 
It may be a matter of interest to the present generation of 
American people to consider in connection with the charges 
made against the Germans in the burning of Louvain, the burn- 
ing of Washington, the capitol of our country, by the British. 

The New York Evening 
Sun wrote a scathing, scur- 
rilous anti- German editorial 
on this subject, which of 
course omitted any reference 
to the burning of Washing- 
ton by the English in 1814. 

Commenting upon this act 
of outrage and infamy, Jef- 
ferson said: "In Europe 
the transient possession of 
our capital can be no dis- 
grace. Nearly every capital 
there was in possession of its 
enemy, some often and some 
long. But diabolical as has 
been that enemy, he burned neither public edifices nor private 
dwellings. It was reserved for England to show that Napoleon 
in atrocity was an infant compared to her ministers and her 
generals. ' ' 

64 




The Burning of Washington by the 
English. 



NEUTRALITY 65 

Thomas Jefferson's opinion of English warfare is at least of 
as much moral value to Americans as that of the editor of the 
New York Sun. 

Sir A. Conan Doyle, of Sherlock Holmes fame, is using his 
tremendous detective and deductive power, which is so ably 
reflected in his "Sherlock Holmes" stories, to champion Eng- 
land's cause; which, considering the fact that he is an English- 
man, is only to his credit, but one article of his printed in the 
London Chronicle and entitled, "A Policy of Murder and How 
Prussia Has Degraded the Standard of Modern Warfare," can 
hardly be claimed as a creditable work on his part, because the 
venom and vitriol of the language which he used passes all 
understanding. Mr. James O'Donnell Bennett, the celebrated 
war correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, has taken it upon 
himself to answer Sir Arthur's article, and referring to the 
chapter of Louvain, Mr. Bennett says : 

"Toward the close of the second paragraph of your article 
you state that in the Peninsular campaign, to prevent the de- 
struction of an ancient bridge, the British promised not to use 
it on condition that the French would forego its destruction" — 
an agreement, you add, "faithfully kept, upon either side." 

"And then you ask: Could one imagine Germans making 
war in such a spirit as this? Think of that old French bridge 
and then think of the University of Louvain and the Cathedral 
of Rheims. What a gap between them — the gap that separates 
civilization from the savage. ' ' 

"Now may I ask a question or two?" writes Bennett. 
"Why not think of the exquisite Hotel de Ville at Louvain, 
which was saved from destruction by fire solely through the 
heroism, energy, and ingenuity of the German officers, who, 
though comrades of theirs had been shot in the back by civil- 
ians firing from attics and from cellar windows, worked to save 
one of the most precious memorials of ancient times and worked 
to such good purpose that today the superb structure stands 
unharmed? I have seen it. 

"Why not think of the choir stalls, the paintings, and the 
silver ornaments which German officers removed from the Ca- 
thedral of St. Peter at Louvain and intrusted to the present 
Burgomaster of Louvain, who in turn deposited them in the 
Hotel de Ville across the way? Why not think of the great 
buildings of the University of Louvain which are not de- 
stroyed? You say they were, but one Sunday in October, I 



66 N E ITT BALI TY 

saw them standing. It was the library of the university which 
was destroyed." 

This is the American Bennett's version against that of the 
English " Sherlock Holmes." At this juncture it might also 
be of interest to us Americans to extract a comment from the 
London press of the days of the revolution in order that we 
may have a correct idea of the difference between the attitude 
of the London press to the United States and the attitude of 
our press at the present time to England. The London 
Times made the following comment upon the destruction of 
Washington: Patton's History of the United States, pages 
597-598: 

" Shall England, the mistress of the sea, and dictator of the 
maritime law of nations, be driven from her proud eminence 
by a piece of striped bunting, flying at the masthead of a few 
fir-built frigates, manned by a handful of bastards and out- 
laws?" 

" BASTARDS AND OUTLAWS," IN 1812, "OUR DEAR 
COUSINS ' ' IN 1914-15. This feeling on the part of the London 
press did not end in 1812. In the Civil War the United States 
man-of-war San Jacinto, in command of Captain Wilkes, took 
Mason and Slidell, two Confederate agents, from the British 
merchant ship Trent upon the high seas, and this is what the 
London Times said about that incident, referring to Captain 
Wilkes: 

"He is, unfortunately, but too faithful a type of a people 
in whose foul mission he is engaged. He is an ideal Yankee. 
Swagger and ferocious, built upon a foundation of vulgarity 
and cowardice, these are his characteristics, and these are the 
most prominent marks by which his countrymen, generally 
speaking, are known all over the world. 

- ' To bully the weak, to triumph over the helpless, to trample 
on every law of country and custom, wilfully to violate the 
most sacred interests of human nature, to defy as long as 
danger does not appear, and as soon as real peril shows itself, 
to sneak aside and run away — these are the virtues of the race 
which presumes to announce itself as the leader of civilization 
and the prophet of human progress in these latter days. By 
Captain Wilkes let tlie Yankee breed be judged" (Boston pa- 
pers and Providence Journal please copy! Author's note.) 

This description of the Americans by the London Times 
has been the standard of every English newspaper, novelist and 



NEUTBALITY 67 

author all those years past. In order to bring this quotation 
more up-to-date, another quotation from the London Times 
concerning the Venezuela question in 1895 is very timely. It 
says: 

"The Americans have always shown themselves to be a sen- 
timental and excitable nation. They have a very hazy notion 
of what the Monroe Doctrine really is, but nevertheless they 
are quite willing to enter upon a holy war in defense of it. We 
must reckon with this feeling and be prepared for the eventual- 
ites it may cause; but we must not allow it to influence our 
settled policy." 

These quotations are from President Wilson's favorite news- 
paper, the London Times. . . . 

CHAPTER XX 

The Cathedral of Rheims. 

It was asserted in September that the Germans - wantonly" 
destroyed the ancient cathedral at Rheims. It now develops 
that the French had used the cathedral as a point of observa- 
tion to conduct the French artillery fire against the Germans, 
and that the Germans after waiting five days, fired just two 
shots, one of which struck the tower where one observer was 
stationed and the other struck the roof, inflicting but slight 
damage, which can be easily repaired. 

This incident was used by the English agencies to stir up 
great public resentment against the Germans all over the 
world; yet it was justified by the acts of the French them- 
selves, and by the absolute necessity of the laws of war. This 
is another excellent incident to demonstrate the hypocrisy of 
the British, the destroyers of Washington, the capitol of our 
country. . . . 

This is the way the papers handled the bombardment of 
the Cathedral. 

SHADOWY INTERIOR OF THE RHEIMS 

CATHEDRAL TURNED INTO FIERY 

FURNACE BY GERMAN SHELLS 



says the Herald in bold type. The statement was an absolute 
falsehood. 



68 NEUTRALITY 

FRANCE APPEALS TO ENTIRE WORLD 

AGAINST GERMANS' ACT OF VANDALISM 

The N. T. Sun, Sept. 22, 1914. 



The Sun has quoted the words ' ' act of vandalism, ' ' with the 
apparent object of claiming irresponsibility. The very fact that 
they put these words in quotations should have suggested itself 
to the editor as a neutral journalist, to refrain from publishing 
them at all. 

The alleged destruction of the Rheims Cathedral created a 
terrible " hullabaloo " and mawkish sentiment in the American 
press or rather in some of the papers priding themselves to be 
American. The Germans were accused of the most terrible 
vandalism known in the history of the world. ' i The Huns ! ■ ' 
"Barbarians!" "The Vandals!" Later on it turned out that 
the cathedral was only slightly damaged and can easily be 
repaired. Mr. James O'Donnell Bennett of the Chicago 
Tribune in his letter to Conan Doyle continues as follows : 

"Think of that old French bridge," you say, "and then 
think of the Cathedral of Rheims. Why not think, in this con- 
nection, of the three parlementaires which the Germans sent to 
the French, requesting them not to use the towers of the Cathe- 
dral as a point for signaling to the French batteries the effect 
of their fire ? 

One of these parlementaires never came back. 

As a final warning the Germans blew down a smokestack 
near the Cathedral, and when they finally opened on the tow- 
ers, so as to drive away the men who were signaling, they 
used very thin shrapnel. Days later, I saw the towers still 
standing, and the statement as to the parlementaires I had 
from the German officers of Iiigh rank, in whose speech I found 
nothing to warrant me in calling them liars offhand." 

Statements and interviews in French and English publica- 
tions are quoted as confirming the assertions that last Septem- 
ber, electric projectors were used on the cathedral tower under 
a Red Cross flag and that a telephone station likewise was 
established there ; also that soldiers were housed in the cathe- 
dral and acted as a guard, closing the doors when shelling of 
the cathedral began. One of the affidavits sets forth tha.t after 
the cathedral started to burn French sentries kept the populace 
from the square and ordered all doors closed. It is asserted that 
even the Sisters of Mercy were locked up in the burning church 



NEUTRALITY 69 

with about 100 men and not released until some hours after. 
Priests begged the sentries to let the wounded be transported 
and finally this was effected. 

"And in view of the fact that the Germans had almost 
begged the French not to use the towers of the cathedral at 
Rheims, as points for signaling to their batteries,' ' writes 
Mr. Bennett, "I thought it rather a splendid thing that, in 
spite of the refusal, the Germans did not demolish the towers. 
That their guns were not trained on the towers, I had proof in 
the late afternoon of Sept. 29th, when I walked along the ram- 
parts of Fort Brimont, about five miles from Rheims, and again 
on the glorious afternoon of Sunday, October 25th, when I 
stood on the heights of Fort Berru, about four miles from 
Rheims. 

"The truth is that in the protection and conservation of 
historic edifices not a nation in Europe is more systematic as 
to the method or more pious as to the spirit than Germany is. ' ' 

The wonderful accomplishment of Captain Weddingen, of 
the U-9, who destroyed within an hour three great British 
warships, the Cressy, Aboukir and La Hogue, forms a brilliant 
chapter in the naval history of the German nation. The Her- 
ald's Sept. 23, 1914, account of this wonderful victory reads: 

GERMANS SINK THREE BRITISH 

CRUISERS IN NORTH SEA, AT 

COST OF TWO SUBMARINES 



To the great regret of the entire world Cap. Von Wed- 
dingen, this intrepid and noble hero of the German navy, after- 
wards met his death in a battle between his and an English ship. 

TWO GERMAN SUBMARINES SENT 

TO BOTTOM AFTER SINKING 

THREE BRITISH CRUISERS 

The N. Y. Tribune, Sept. 23, 1914. 



The most remarkable feature about these two headlines is 
that the three cruisers were sunk by one submarine, proving 
that the British news agencies resorted to a great lie in order 
to minimize the tremendous effect of this wonderful achieve- 
ment of German naval skill and efficiency. 



70 NEUTBALITY 



The American people could not ask for clearer or more con- 
vincing proof of the desire of our papers to minimize great 
German accomplishments. 

CHAPTER XXI 

The Battle of Lodz. 

The Evening Sun reported the battle of Lodz under head- 
line: 

RUSSIANS FLEE IN POLAND; GERMANS WIN GREAT 

VICTORY. 



The battle of Lodz was another great triumph of the German 
arms against the hordes of Russian soldiers. Readers prob- 
ably remember the flaring, crying, bold headlines of the Al- 
lies press, stating how the Russian "ring of steel" is clos- 
ing around the German army which, defeated, annihilated, 
ground in the dust, meant the finish of the German defense in the 
eastern scene of war. 

The Germans were supposed to be completely surrounded 
and how the Russians announcing from Petrograd the great 
capture of Von Hindenburg's army, announced their tremen- 
dous victory in advance. But it happened just the other way. 
The facts were that several German army corps literally cut 
their way through the so-called i ' Russian ring of steel ' ' and cap- 
tured in their effort, 42,000 prisoners, besides inflicting heavy 
losses on the Russians, with the result that Lodz — the great 
manufacturing city of Russia — called the Manchester of Rus- 
sia, became the prize of the Germans. 

This great victory was reported on the back and last page of 
the Evening Sun. Had it been a Russian victory the front page 
wouldn't have been big enough for the spread of the joy. 

FATE OF GENERALS WHO HAVE 

MET DEFEAT ON BATTLEFIELDS 

The N. T. Sun, Aug. 23, 1914. 



It's the headline write-up of Gen. Von Emmich. It dis- 
cusses in a general way the fate of other generals who, like 
Von Emmich, committed suicide when he failed in his great 



NEUTRALITY 71 

task, referring, of course, to his "failure" to capture Liege. 
The Sun terms Von Emmich's achievement "a failure," 
which in reality was one of the greatest military exploits in 
history. 

This "suicide" story greatly amused Gen. Von Emmich, 
who was nicknamed by his soldiers, ' ' Gen. Smiles. ' ' He was one 
of the most jovial, good natured men and adored by his troops. 
The real facts are that he directed the first attack on Liege 
at six o'clock of the evening and next morning he was "boss" 
of the city. His suicide was of course a fake. 

CHAPTER XXII 
Textbooks. 

The New York Herald says it expects recognition for its 
great accomplishments during the war, and therefore it has an- 
nounced to its readers that : 

THE HERALD IS TO BE USED IN 

SCHOOLS AS A WAR TEXTBOOK 



This is the headline announcing that remarkable fact. In 
London, it will certainly prove a very welcome text book, but as 
for the American schools, one may rest quiet and not worry 
about its introduction. 

From the sanctity, cleanliness, uprightness of an American 
schoolroom to the New York Herald editorial or business 
offices or that of its "Paree" edition, there's a long, long way. 
It's even longer than to Tipperary. . . . 

The New York Herald is not alone in its pious desire. 
Collier's Weekly wants also to be used as text book in the 
Pulitzer School of Journalism. It better be sent to the museum 
of ancient history, and it will always be treasured among the 
relics of the great war by every collector of curios. 

According to Collier's Weekly of such early date and 
issue as the 12th of June, 1915, Galicia is lost to the Austrians 
and Kaiser Francis Joseph is advised to pack up his belongings 
and vacate Vienna. 

Until one reads Stanley Washburn's article, "TTte Fall of 
Peremysl" (note the Petrograd improved spelling), one did not 
fully appreciate the importance of that misspelled fortress in 



72 



NEUTEALITY 



the game of war. Collier's Weekly gravely asks, "and did 
the taking of Peremysl mark a turning point in the great 
war?" Doubtless! Brought up to date, it did. 

But Collier's Weekly had not heard of the turning point on 
June 12, and so it still believed the Petrograd reports of great 
victories, although the Austrians and their German allies had 
recaptured it ten days before. 

Washburn tells his American readers in this funniest of all 
war articles yet, that the Russian officers ' ' typify the delicacy ' ' 
of something, presumably the delicacy with which they cut off 
prisoners ' noses and perform other delicate surgical operations 
on the helpless. Washburn closes his amusing record under 
"Franz- Josef's last Chapter," with this: 

"The fall of Peremysl dispelled the last hope of the Aus- 
trians of holding on to Galicia, and with its collapse has 
tumbled the last chance of holding together in that province 
resistance to the new Russian regime. At last it (Przemysl) 
came to typify the whole Austrian cause in Galicia, and in its 
fall the whole scheme of campaign went crushing to earth. 
The blow has destroyed all confidence in ultimate victory." 
The cartoon here reprinted from the Herald of Au- 
gust 27, 1914, entitled: "Decorations to Burn" and 

below "Dynamite for Ba- 
bies" is silly and coarse. 
This is the Herald's fun as 
inspired by ' ' Paree ! " " Dou- 
ble cross for the King of Bel- 
gium" it says under the pic- 
ture. Well, the only ' ' double 
cross" the King of Belgium 
ever got came from the flag 
of England. 

The cartoon is supposed 
to be a quasi-ironical compli- 
ment by the Herald to the 
wonderful accomplishment of 
Count Zeppelin. It is also 
supposed to teach the Amer- 
ican youngster what barba- 
rians, what "baby killers" 
the German soldiers are! 
One's afraid that Mons. Ben- 

The N. T. Herald, 

"DYNAMITE FOR BABIES." 




NEUTEALITY 73 

nett didn't go far enough in his "educational" pursuit; his pa- 
per as a " textbook'' in American schools may not be complete, 
so the additional illustration of "baby killers" will help to en- 
lighten the American youngster of the real type of German 
"baby killers." Depicted in this picture German soldiers are 
seen feeding Polish and Russian children "to death" by giving 
them piping hot Hungarian goulash. The Germans feed, not 
starve, their enemies — that's where they differ from "humani- 
tarian" English. 




N, 



German Soldiers Feeding Russian Polish Children. 

By the attempted German blockade the British government 
will not allow a German woman to obtain food from the United 
States with which to feed her children, in spite of the fact that 
it is buying rifles in the United States with which to kill her 
husband, but English history is full of cruel barbarity, and 
wild temperament of the English soldier. 

What a contrast to him the German soldier. Bismarck said : 
"The Germans are like bears; they do not attack of their own 
accord, but they fight like mad when they are attacked in their 
own lairs. An appeal to fear will never find an echo in the Ger- 
man's heart. The German is easily betrayed by love and sym- 
pathy, but never by fear. The Germans will not start the fire. 
Some other nation may, but let any nation that provokes Ger- 
many beware of the furor teutonicus. We Germans fear God, 
but nothing else in tlie world; and the fear of God induces us 
to love and seek peace. 

"Our soldiers are worth kissing; every one so fearless of 
death, so quiet, so obedient, so kindly with empty stomachs, wet 
clothes, little sleep, torn shoes, friendly to all ; no plundering 
and wanton destruction, they pay for all they can and eat moldy 
bread. Our people must have a deep fund of religion, otherwise 
all this could not be as it is." The prophetic words came true, 
as recent history proves it. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

Zeppelins and Zeppelies. 

Count Zeppelin is the fa- 
mous inventor of the famous 
Zeppelin airship. His air- 
ships have become the "bo- 
geyman" of London and 
Paris. "Here comes the 
Zeppelin!" rings the cry 
and out goes every light in 
London and Paris. The cities 
become pitch dark except for 
the searchlights playing on 
every available roof and 
church tower, anxiously look- 
ing for the dreaded "Zep- 
pelin." . 

Before going further into 
the discussion of the merits 
or demerits justifying the use 
of this new weapon of war- 
fare, it may not be amiss to 
go back a few years in our 
_own history and observe what 
our good old Thomas Jefferson has said in regard to implements 
of war, particularly when it came to fight the English. ' ' They 're 
the only real foes we ever had to fight," says he, and Thomas 
Jeffereson knew them like a book. 

In writing to Kobert Fulton, Jefferson said : 
"I consider your torpedoes as very valuable means of de- 
fense of harbors and have no doubt that we should adopt them 
to a considerable degree. As we cannot meet the British with 
equality of physical force, we must apply it by other devices. 

■ ' Accordingly, I hope this honor is reserved for you, and that 
either by subaqueous guns, torpedoes, or diving boats, you will 
accomplish it by the aid of government. I confess I Jiave more 
hopes of the mode of destruction by the submarine titan any 
other : No law of nature opposes it." 

These are the words of Thomas Jefferson. We have so far 
no record of what President Wilson thinks of this statement of 
Jefferson, which betrays so much keen foresight. It must be 

74 




Count Zeppelin. 



NEUTRALITY 



75 



borne in mind that a submarine in 1812 would have been far 
more destructive than a Zeppelin in 1915. 

Yet, it has been stated in the public press repeatedly that 
our present president is opposed to Zeppelins, while here we 
have a statement from Mr. Jefferson — as good an American as 
ever lived — preaching the good American doctrine "that neces- 
sity knows no law." Of course, Mr. Wilson thinks otherwise, 
judging from his submarine attitude towards Germany. 

Lest we forget, the quotation of a little incident from our 
own war of 1812, taken from Lester's History of the United 
States, may prove very enlightening to Americans ; an incident 
showing that England of today is the same old England and 
tJiat the leopard cannot change his spots. Lester writes : 

"It is with regret that we are obliged in this war, as we 
did in that of the Revolution, to recount so many instances of 
violations of faith and such frequent resorts to atrocities and 
massacres. The English employed and paid the Indian sav- 
ages for perpetuating the shocking barbarities. 

"During an engagement of a detachment of the American 
army, under Gen. Winchester, with the main body of the British 
army, under Col. Proctor, the American commander was taken ; 
but his soldiers were doing their duty on the field and had a 
fair chance of winning the battle. 

"Partly terrified by a threat of Col. Proctor, of letting loose 
the savages for another general massacre on our helpless fron- 
tier population, and influenced partly by the promise that Proc- 
tor had made, that if the Americans would surrender the fron- 
tier population should be protected, they laid down their arms 
as soon as they received this assurance with the order of their 
captive commander to sur- 
render. 

"The dastard liar, who 
professed to represent the 
chivalry and honor of Eng- 
land, turned them out for 
butchery unarmed! The war 
whoop rang on the night air 
and 500 Americans were 
brained by the tomohawk. 
Most of them were young 
men from the best families of 

Kentucky. That foul treach- Instigated by the English Indians 
ery has never been forgotten Massacre 500 Americans. 

or forgiven and it never will be by Western men. ' ' 




76 NEUTRALITY 

Alas! Eastern Americans, judging by their newspapers, 
seemed to have forgotten it. 

President Madison, in his message to Congress of June 1, 
1812, said : ' ' In reviewing the conduct of Great Britain toward 
the United States, our attention is necessarily drawn to the war- 
fare just renewed by the savages on one of our extensive fron- 
tiers — a warfare which is known to spare neither age nor sex 
and to be distinguished by features peculiarly shocking to hu- 
manity" . . . 

Again Lester in his history writes: "But the British name 
was to receive a deeper stain from another cause. From the 
outset one of the main reliances of Great Britain in the prosecu- 
tion of the American war was the employment of savages of the 
soil. This dreadful policy was clearly and fully determined on, 
when the war began. It was never departed from ; it was never 
modified; it was steadily persisted in to the end," and it is 
steadily persisted in to this date. 

The New York Times, referring to the Zeppelin raids on 
London, says : 

"Instead of bearing fruit in mass meetings demanding that 
the war end, Germany's air raids on England may serve only to 
stimulate recruiting. ' ' How about this, Lord Derby ? ! 

Well, the deuce of it. What are the blooming Britishers kick- 
ing for ? If the Zeppelins stimulate recruiting, one would think 
they would welcome them, instead of trying to shoot them down. 
Heaven only knows they need some recruiting, judging from 
their activity in this country and since the Irish boys got wise 
and prefer to emigrate to us instead of offering themselves as 
cannon fodder to the "Jack Johnsons," as they call the 42 cm. 
German guns. The English, in fact, are beginning to boast that 
they will soon have their own Zeppelins. They better call them 
Zeppelies — it will rhyme better with "AL-lies!" 

Some of the amiable fictions of which the present war has 
been productive is the English pretense of abhorrence and dis- 
may over the ruthless conduct of the war by the German army. 
No one has yet discovered how any war can be made agreeable 
to the enemy. Gen. Sherman said, "War is hell," and Gen. 
Sheridan once approvingly quoted a French authority which 
said that "the only rule of war was to leave the civil population 
in the enemy's country nothing but eyes to weep over the war; 
also to produce such a state of devastation that a crow in cross- 
ing would starve to death. ' ' 



NEUTRALITY 77 

The German campaign in Belgium and France has been 
singled out by some Americans, and especially the virtuous press 
of Gotham, as most shocking to their sensitive souls, and we 
have been given to understand that Great Britain has always 
conducted war with pathetic regard for the feelings of her ene- 
mies This is one of the fictions that has been assiduously fos- 
tered and is quite often repeated by weU-meamng individuals 
in this country who study the war from the headlines of the 
"Al-lies" New York press. 

CHAPTER XXIV 

"Kitchener, the Butcher." 

Let us survey England's benevolent manner of conducting 
war In the Boer War the London Standard printed a Pretoria 
dispatch, saying: "The Boers sniped a train at Bronkhurst 
yesterday on the line between Pretoria and Middleburg. Two 
of its occupants were wounded. In accordance with Lord Rob- 
erts' warning, all the farms were fired within a radius oi ten 
miles. ' ' 

This case differed entirely from the cases in Belgium A 
couple of Boers fired at a military train, perfectly within their 
rights as warriors, and every farmhouse within ten miles m 
every direction was committed to the flames m retaliation by the 
English. 

The following account of the sacking of Dullstroom was writ- 
ten by Lt Morrison of the Canadian Artillery, and published 
in the London Truth: "During the trek our progress was like 
the old-time forays in the highlands of Scotland, two centuries 
ago We moved on from valley to valley lifting cattle and sheep, 
burning, looting and turning out the women and children to 
sit and weep in despair beside the ruins of their once beautitul 
f fiTTnsteads . 

"It was the first touch of Kitchener's iron hand— a terrible 
thing to witness. We burned a track about six miles wide 
through those fertile valleys. The column left a trail of fire 
and smoke behind it that could be seen at Belfast. Nobody who 
was there will ever forget that day's work. 

"On the steps of the church a group of women and children 
were huddled. The women's faces were very white, but some 
of them had spots of red on either cheek and their eyes were 



78 NEUTRALITY 

blazing. As I stood looking, a woman turned to me and pathetic- 
ally exclaimed : ' Oh, how can you be so cruel ! ' I sympathized 
with her and explained that it was Kitchener's order and had to 
be obeyed. 

1 ' But, all the same, it was an extremely sad sight to see the 
little homes burning and the rose bushes withering up in the 
pretty garden, and the pathetic groups of homeless and dis- 
tressed women and little children weeping in abject misery and 
despair among the smoking ruins as we rode away. - ' 

This is exactly what the Russians have been doing during 
this war. We all know who were their masters and teachers in 
their dastardly acts of devastation and burning. 

Gen. French, who is now commanding the English troops in 
France and sending the savage Indian hill tribes against the 
Germans, was shifted from his command in the Boer War for 
barbarous warfare. This very same English gentleman was the 
loudest in his coarse denunciation of the German defense act 
which prompted the execution of Miss Cavell, the English nurse, 
when she was caught red-handed as one of the most desperate 
spies. 

One of the most disgraceful records of infamy is that of the 
shooting of women and children in the Boer War by English 
soldiers. These helpless beings were gathered in concentration 
camps to the number of thousands and slowly exterminated. 
The number of deaths during the month of September, 1901, 
was 1,964 children and 328 women. There were then 54,326 
children and 38,022 women under Kitchener's tender care. 

The London Daily News said : ' ' The truth is that the death 
rate in the camps is incomparably worse than anything Africa 
or Asia can show. There is nothing to match it even in the 
mortality figures of the Indian famines, where cholera and other 
epidemics have to be contended with. ' ' 

No wonder that Kitchener earned himself the "heroic" title 
of ' ' Kitchener the Butcher ! ' ' 

These measures met with no more ardent supporter than 
Lord Winston Churchill, the former Lord of the Admiralty, who 
wrote to the London Post : ' ' There is one way to overcome the 
resistance of the Boers, and that is by a prolonged process of 
attrition. In other words, we must kill them out so as to teach 
their children to love us." 

A brief extract from a letter of President Steyn, of the Or- 
ange Free State, to Kitchener, in August, 1901, throws a strong 



NEUTRALITY 



79 



light on English humanity: "Your Excellency's troops have 
not hesitated to turn their artillery on these defenseless women 
and children to capture them when they were fleeing with their 
wagons or alone, whilst your troops knew that they were only 
women and children, as happened only recently at Gras-pan on 
the 6th of June, near Reitz, where a women and children's camp 
wa,s captured and retaken by us whilst your excellency's troops 
took refuge behind the women; and when reinforcements came 
they fired with artillery and small arms on that woman laager. 
I can mention hundreds of cases of this kind, etc. ' ' 

Will John Revelstoke Rathom, Esq., editor of the Providence 
Journal, born in the land of the kangaroos and growing rich in 
the United States, kindly paste President Steyn's letter to 
Kitchener into his hat before he opens his wide mouth denounc- 



ing Teutonic warfare? For the editors of other 
pers this letter may also furnish "good copy." 



Al-lies" pa- 



CHAPTER XXV 

British Atrocities. 

How about the unspeakable cruelties in India? The sub- 
joined cut is a reproduction of the celebrated picture by Verest- 
chagin! Verestchagin 's picture, "India Pacata," possesses a 
peculiar interest. It was called by the artist "Blown From the 




"India Pacata." 



Cannon's Mouth," and, as we gaze on it, we behold a strangely 
impressive tragedy, representing the execution of rebel Hindus, 
who are thus punished for their love of country and their hatred 
for British rule. 



80 NEUTEALITY 

In defense of this unusual punishment it is claimed that, 
according to Hindu religion, death would be no deterrent, be- 
cause the Brahmans believe in immortality. Therefore, their 
bodies were blown to pieces so as to destroy every chance of re- 
incarnation. 

An Indian ( Hindu) patriot writes : 

"The British power is based on perfidy, treachery, brutality, 
and brigandage. Remember the massacre of the Egyptian, 
Fellaheen soldiers on the field of Tel-el-Kebir, the cold-blooded 
and wholesale slaughter of the Soudanese at Omdurman, the 
butchery of the Thibetans on the road to Lhasa, the Denshawai 
hangings in Egypt, the massacre of poor Peruvians in Putu- 
mayo, the shooting down of Hindustanee laborers in British 
Guiana, whose poverty engendered by British oppression, had 
driven them to work in exile for British exploiters in a foreign 
land, the hanging of Indian women and the blowing off of In- 
dian patriots from tlie mouth of cannon during the In- 
dian War of Independence of 1857, the hanging and imprison- 
ment of Indian patriots, the Cawnpore killings, cruelty to the 
Indian political prisoners in the jails and in the Andaman Is- 
lands, the violation of Indian women, the practicing of inden- 
tured slavery in the tea-plantations in India, the horrors of the 
Boer concentration camps, and many more infamous acts, then 
you will learn to judge of the truth of the British "justice and 
fair play ! ' ' 

' ' The Britishers have been violating the treaties and solemn 
pledges given to the princes and the people of India. They ar- 
rest patriots without accusation and deport them without trial, 
outrage the right of asylum, and deny political prisoners the 
right of defense by counsel, suborn perjured witnesses, and de- 
fend the torture of the innocent people by their police, put down 
public meetings, and suppress freedom of the press. All the 
infamies, which they denounce when committed by other coun- 
tries, are being perpetrated by them in Hindustan. And these 
are the people who pretend to support the rights of the Bel- 
gians, and trumpet to the world to be the upholders of 'liberty 
and civilization ! ' ' ' 

Mr. Wilfred Scarven Blunt, a prominent English writer on 
"British Atrocities in Egypt/' writes: 

"Ona cross solidly constructed at fifteen paces from the gib- 
bet they are preparing the punishment of flagellation. The first 
sufferer strips to the waist, passes his head in the iron collar, and 
on his bare torso the kurbash descends rhythmically to the sound 



NEUTRALITY 81 

of the voice that counts the blows ; the bronze skin tumefies, splits 
in places, the blood spurts out; it is sickening, horrible. A sec- 
ond man who succeeds him cries out still more desperately ; the 
third one is literally contorted under the la.sh; he loses con- 
sciousness. Meanwhile the man hanged has given up the ghost. 
The second condemned follows with the same assured step as his 
predecessor. The executions continue. The floggings go re- 
morselessly on ; the new ropes redden as they la-jsh into the flesh. 
Yusef Huseyn's legs, in the hanging, are broken. Mohammed 
Gorbashi is undressed, crucified, and flogged fifty lashes. He 
gets maddened on receiving the twelfth. His voice is not well 
heard, for a soldier is ordered to press his head down in the 
opening of the cross again. While Mohammed Dervish Yohran 
is hanged, the executioner puts the rope round his neck and ad- 
ministers it wrongly. The condemned man is not strangled well, 
so he cries out on the cruelty of the world. The British Govern- 
ment ordered that the relatives of those punished in this way 
should be compelled to witness the spectacle, and they were 
brought up under armed escort, Sir E. Grey approved these 
proceedings." Wouldn't the Times or Herald kindly reprint 
this? 

Put it in your dirty pipes, Horatio Bottomley or John Bull 
Lord Northcliffe of the "Daily Liar," or Johnny Eathom of 
the Providence Journal, and smoke it before you bellow of 
' ' German murderers, ' ' holding out your hat for contributions for 
the erection of a monument for that Cavell woman spy, or 
shamelessly holler about humanity. 

One should like, also, to suggest to the Sunday editors of the 
New York Times, Sun, Herald and other "Al-lies" papers the 
reproduction of the Verestchagin painting with Mr. Blunt 's 
vivid pen picture of "British Atrocities." It would certainly 
prove a handsome, enlightening, valuable, and most timely Sun- 
day supplement for their anglophile readers and a particular 
souvenir for Mr. Bryce, the atrocity expert. 

The Boers have only the bitterest memories of Generals 
French and Kitchener — "Kitchener the Butcher," they called 
him, but of the same breed and characteristics as those is the ex- 
British Sea-Lord, Lord Fisher, who is described as follows by a 
recent writer : 

"As a British delegate to the 1899 Hague Convention he 
startled everybody by his ruthless views about the conduct of 
war. No German or Frenchman of either military or naval 
prominence has, thank goodness, ever approached the brutality 
of this 'purely English' mind, for let us not forget that this 



82 NEUTRALITY 

quality made Fisher the successor of the Prince of Battenberg, 
who was accused of the lack of such a 'purely English' mind." 
This is what Lord Fisher had to say when The Hague Con- 
ference tried to establish more humane methods of warfare: 
"War should be made as hellish as possible. When you have to 
wring a chicken's neck, you don't give the chicken intervals for 
rest and refreshment." "When the treatment of captured sub- 
marine crews was being discussed, Lord Fisher, this "pure Brit- 
isher, ' ' shocked the assembly by barking : ' ' Submarines ! If I 
catch any in time of war I will string their crews up to my 
yard arm!" On another occasion this "noble" Lord gave the 
following advice to his brother admirals how to make war : "If 
you rub it in both at home and abroad that you are ready for 
instant war, with every unit of your strength in the first line 
and waiting to be first in, and hit your enemy in the belly and 
kick him when he is down, and boil your prisoners in oil (if you 
take any) and torture Ms women and children, then people will 
keep clear of you." — (Norman Angell's "Great Illusions," page 
350, American edition.) A fine noble sample of the English 
gentleman ! ! And this is the type we Americans are asked to 
call our ' ' dear cousins. ' ' 

CHAPTER XXVI 
"Remember the Baralong." 

This is the "navalism" which placed captured German sail- 
ors in the bow of the Amphion, while she was searching for 
mines, so that they might surely be killed, should anything hap- 
pen. What a contrast to German navalism, which thinks of the 
safety of the prisoners first, before putting up a last fight, as, 
for instance, the auxiliary cruiser Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse 
did in African waters. She first transferred her captured ene- 
mies, then she went fighting to her certain doom. What a con- 
trast between the brutal words of Lord Fisher and the generous 
action of the German commander of the Kaiser Wilhelm der 
Grosse. 

Another very apt illustration of the "pure English mind" 
and their ' ' humanitarian ' ' mode of warfare was f runished at the 
same Hague Conference by the British delegates when the sub- 
ject of the use of asphyxiating gases, recently so successfully 
and cleverly adopted by the German Army in their western 
campaign, came up for discussion. During this debate of pro- 
hibiting axphyxiating gases Germany was gladly willing to agree 



NEUTRALITY 



83 



to forbidding them, but England objected, and a majority of the 
American delegates followed Admiral Mahan and General 
Crozier in supporting England. 

Admiral Mahan urged in an address to the conference that 
asphyxiating an enemy on land was no worse than asphyxiating 
him at sea, by drowning ; that the more deadly wars became, the 
more unbearable they were made, the shorter they would be. 
Ambassador White objected upon grounds of humanity, but he 
was outvoted by the other American delegates. 

Finally Germany was quasi compelled to act in this matter 
in accord with the views of a majority of the peace delegates of 
Great Britain and the United States at the last Hague Confer- 
ence, and because Germany is more efficient and thorough in 
the application of these gases towards her enemies, English 
newspapers, supported by their American allies, are yelling 
1 ' Murder !" 

What should be said of that recent dastardly, foul, cruel and 
wanton murder upon the sailors and captain of the German sub- 
marine by the crew and "gallant" English sailor captain of the 

REMEMBER THE BARALONG. 




-Chicago Abendpost. 
The Spirit of 1776 to Wilson, 



'What Are You Going to Do About This?" 



84 



NEUTRALITY 



Baralong? The atrocious crime was committed under the pro- 
tection of the American flag under the eyes of Americans. 

The Nicosian, an English freighter carrying mules from New 
Orleans for the English army, was stopped by a German sub- 
marine in the Irish Sea, and after the men of the Nicosian had 
disembarked, the Baralong, an English man-of-war, came along 
as a relief ship flying tlie American flag, and murdered over 
twenty German sailors in cold blood — which sailors went to their 
death feeling that they had been attacked by an American ship 
flying the flag of the United States. 

Heaven only knows how dark, how filthy England's history 
is of such bestial crimes, but the Baralong case will long be 
remembered by the sailors sailing the seven seas as one of the 
foulest blots on the dirty escutcheon of Albion's fleet. 

The subjoined illustration is a reproduction from the New 
York Herald and is entitled : 

SURVIVAL OF THE "DARK AGES." 
showing militarism as a snake with the Kaiser's head and helmet, 
saying : 

"LAST SEEN IN THE SWAMPS OF EASTERN FRANCE." 

' ' This cartoon was pub- 
lished at the time that 
the Herald gave the Ger- 
mans " twenty -four Jiours 
to get out of France." It 
was supposed tha.t the Ger- 
mans were retreating pre- 
cipitately from France and 
Belgium, back to their 
fortifications in Germany. 

Certainly this cartoon 
was not published for the 
purpose of edifying the 
American people. On the 
contrary, it apparently 
was published for the pur- 
pose of creating prejudice 
and passion, and to destroy 
all regard for truth, jus- 
tice and American "fair 
play," and decent regard 
for the exalted ruler of a 
great friendly nation. 




..■US? SEEX."!?* THE SW AMPS OF EASTERN, FRAN 



— N. Y. Herald. 



NEUTBALITY 



85 



The most infamous cartoon of all, which brought remon- 
strances from all over the world, many other papers, and par- 
ticularly the New York Sun, severely censured it, is entitled : 

" PREPARING FOR GUESTS." 

It shows a picture of the 
devil, with a German diction- 
ary in his hand. The explan- 
atory text reads: "Satan, 
Esq., I shall certainly be 
obliged to perfect myself in 
the German Language." 

The name of the evil 
genius who drew this cartoon 
is Ridgeway Knight of Paris, 
France. This self-styled gen- 
tleman certainly was not a 
very chivalrous knight. A 
paper which sinks so low that 
it will publish such a scur- 
rilous picture may call itself 
anything it likes, except 
American. It is British jour- 
nalism in its most hideous 

spirit and operations! . .The cartoon indicates that the devil 
speaks in English, which, according to the New York Herald, is 
apparently his mother tongue. 




Preparing for Guests. — N. Y. Herald. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

Harper's Weekly. 

Another similarly contemptible cartoon appeared in Har- 
per's Weekly. It was just as scurrilous and dirty a piece of 
work of the dirty mind of its creator and of its publisher. It 
meant another insult to the millions of Germans in this country 
and in Europe! It was so rotten in its spirit and conception 
that it was officially discussed in the Congress of the United 
States. The issue we refer to is that of Xmas, 1914. 

Representative Taggart, on the floor of the House, attacked 
the shameless publisher of Harper's Weekly in the following 
words: "This is the Christmas number of the magazine, and 
I want to call the attention of the House to the leading carica- 



86 NEUTEALITY 

ture that is in the middle of it — an insult to the 30,000,000 peo- 
ple of German blood in the United States, the brave people who 
live in nearly every State in this Union, who control every 
doubtful State in national elections, and who own more than 
half of the property in the Northern States. 

"And yet the Christmas greeting to them is a caricature of 
a German soldier breaking in the door of an humble cottage 
with the butt of his rifle, with intent to commit murder. And 
this is labeled with an ancient holy name, ' Kris Kringle, ' a little 
German child's way of saying in German the name of the Christ 
child. I want the people of that heroic blood who may take the 
trouble to read my remarks to go to the public library in what- 
ever town they reside, call for this magazine and look at the 
blasphemous and horrible Christmas greeting that it has of- 
fered to one-third of the American people. 

"I want to say that if there was a crayon artist among the 
members of this House, and he would bring in materials here 
and proceed to caricature any brave people or any soldier who 
is fighting for his country in the snows of Europe at this time, 
and hold him and his people, and the tenderest sentiment of 
their hearts, up to ridicule and contempt, I would vote to expel 
him from this House of Representatives. This is a neutral na- 
tion and this is a neutral House of Representatives. 

"We in the House are requested by the highest authority 
to keep our mouths shut about this war, and yet the editor of 
one of these publications can insult the most industrious and 
prosperous part of our people, and not only insult them, but 
convince them that he end hundreds of others, on account of 
their manifest partiality in favor of one empire as against an- 
other, are in the pay of one of the belligerents. I hope this par- 
tiality will not continue until we wake up some morning and find 
this nation aflame with anger." 

During the period of this great war Harper's Weekly has 
conducted a most bitter, scurrilous and highly offensive cam- 
paign against the German nation. Its eulogies of the "noble," 
"human" and highly "civilized" English nation are so much 
funnier, so much more hypocritical as Harper's Weekly, during 
the strenuous days of our Civil War was blowing its horn as 
being one of the strongest Union newspapers, with the best in- 
terests of a united nation closely at heart. It was as bitter 
against England as it is today against Germany, which is proved 
by the verses it published on May 9, 1863, which read as follows : 



NEUTRALITY 87 

WE WILL REMEMBER. 

"We will remember it — England's 'neutrality' — 
We who have witnessed her cowardly craft ; 

Friendly in seeming, a foe in reality, 

Wiping her eyes while she inwardly laughed. 

"We will remember when 'round us were lying 
Thousands of gallant men, wounded and dead, 

Rebels on all sides our pathway defying — 

'Down with our Rival!' was all England said. 

"We will remember her sham aristocracy, 

Cheerful and jubilant over our falls, 
Helping when treason would stifle democracy, 

Turning a deaf ear to Liberty's calls. 

"We will remember, with lasting emotion, 

When her starved workmen were gasping for breath, 

While stores of grain WE sent over the ocean, 

Her ships came laden with WEAPONS OF DEATH ! 

"We will remember the KEOKUK sinking, 
Riddled with balls Neutral England had sent ; 

We will remember her laughing and winking, 
Feasting arch-traitors on board of the TRENT. 

"We will remember it when we are stronger; 

When once again we stand saved and erect, 
Her neutral mask shall shield England no longer, 

By her foul deeds she'll know WHAT TO EXPECT !" 

Well, did Harper's remember? How could it with the soft- 
brained editors that are conducting the degenerated, unpa- 
triotic, decadent publication today. It is well known that Mr. 
Norman Hapgood, editor of Harper's Weekly, is descended from 
a respectable Jewish family named Habgut, but the name was 
anglicized to cover up its origin. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 



"Who Said: Rats?" 

Sometimes cartoons are very expressive. The Tribune of 
Sept. 2, 1914, published one which undoubtedly and with irony 
suggests the truth. It pictures the Kaiser offering his merchant 
ships to Uncle Sam, and Uncle Sam says, l 'I guess I can't afford 
the international lawsuits that go with them." 

No ! not with the law firm of 
Choate, Root, Coudert & Co. It 
might be observed that if a Jef- 
ferson, a Lincoln or a Cleveland 
were President of the United 
States that we probably would 
have had the ships today, and 
that a Jefferson, a Lincoln or a 
Cleveland would take care of the 
lawsuits afterward. 

The New York Sun occasion- 
ally has a sense of humor, as is 
shown in the reproduction of 
this cartoon. This pictures Ad- 
miral Von Tirpitz holding the 
British Lion in a very tender 
spot and is entitled: "Who 
Said Rats?" The Hon. Lord 
Winston Spencer Churchill, for- 
merly Chief of the Admiralty, 
now kicked out of office, who has 
first used the expression of rats as applied to thw German fleet, 
is now known and called "the official rat catcher" of England. 

Speaking at a great meeting in Liverpool, this specimen of 
an English Admiral and "gentleman" said: "If the German 
Navy does not come out and fight, they will be brought out like 
rats in a hole." No comment is necessary on this sample of 
the King's English as spoken in these days by the men who are 
"misguiding" English destinies. England's navy must be 
proud of her former First Lord of the Admiralty and his fine 
form of speech. The most uneducated and humble corporal 
wearing Emperor Wilhelm's army uniform would be ashamed of 
himself using such language ! 

88 




"Who wiS rtiw" 

-N. Y. Evening Sun. 



NEUTRALITY 89 

Well, the rats did come out and the English feline is hiding 
and ashamed to show the bites these little rats inflicted and con- 
tinue to inflict upon her. Nice, lovely, efficient "rats" they 
were, these "U" fellows, commonly known as German subma- 
rine boats. The "Ratcatcher" of England did dig them out 
with his squeaky voice, and what they did made history. 

No man in British politics has cut a poorer and more lament- 
able figure than this noble specimen of decadent British aris- 
tocracy. And no sailor, soldier, statesman in British politics 
has been the target of more denunciatory criticism for inability, 
inefficiency and amateurish mediocrity than this "rat catching" 
Lord Churchill. 

His above quoted prophecy that if the German ships did 
not come out and fight "we would dig them out of their holes 
like rats;" his prediction that if Zeppelins came to England 
they would be surrounded by a "swarm of hornets," and his 
claim at Dundee, where he went to speak before his constituency 
after his clash with Admiral Fisher, that the British on the 
Gallipoli peninsula were "within a few miles" of a great vic- 
tory, are typical instances of this noble Englishman's form of 
oratory. A worthy crony of his "noble" brother, sailor Lord 
Fisher. 

On Trafalgar day he made another mistake, according to 
his alert critics, when he wrote : ' ' Through our long delays the 
enemy has seized a new initiative in the near east. ' ' 

To sum up, he made an ass of himself, and was compelled to 
retire into the trenches, where he '11 furnish good fodder for some 
German cannon. . . . 

CHAPTER XXIX 
Lusitania. 

Much as one regrets the staggering loss of life in the Lusi- 
tania disaster that startled the world, the facts in the case can 
only justify the action of the Germans. Legally and even 
morally there was no basis for any protest on the part of the 
United States. The Lusitania was a British ship. British ships 
have been instructed by the Admiralty to ram submarines and 
to take active measures against the enemy. Hence every British 
ship must be considered in the light of a warship. 

The Lusitania flew the ensign of the British Naval Reserves 
before the submarine warfare was initiated. Since that time she 
has hoisted many a flag, including the Stars and Stripes. Ac- 



90 



NEUTEALITY 



cording to a statement issued by the advertising manager of the 
Cunard Line, the Lusitania, "when torpedoed, was entirely out 
of tJie control of tlie Cunard Company and operated under the 
command of the British Admiralty." 




"No American has the right to offer his body as a shield ... on a vessel 
carrying ammunition of war." — From the resolutions adopted at Madison 
Square Garden by One Hundred Thousand Friends of Peace. 

The Lusitania carried contraband of war from this country 
to England. If this contraband had reached its destination it 
would undoubtedly have killed far more Germans than the total 
number of passengers lost on the Lusitania. As a matter of fact, 
it did actually kill the passengers by precipitating the sinking 
of the ship. There can be no doubt that the ship would not have 
sunk for hours, if explosions from within had not hastened its 
end. 

Every passenger on a boat carrying contraband of war takes 
his life into his hands. The explosives in the hold of a ship, nat- 



NEUTRALITY 91 

urally, constitute a graver peril to passengers than the shots of 
German torpedoes. England, awakening to the peril of her "in- 
vincible navy" by these "rats" of the sea, began hollering and 
yelling about privateering and other buncomb. The American 
press took up her cry and came pretty near involving us in a 
war with Germany. 

The reasons why the United States should not renounce her 
"undoubted right" to employ privateers are thus clearly set 
forth by President Jefferson, in a paper dated July 4, 1812: 
"What is warf It is simply a contest between nations trying 
to see which can do the other most harm. Who carries on the 
war? Armies are formed and navies manned by individuals. 
How is a battle gained? By the death of individuals. What 
produces peace ? The distress of individuals. 

"What difference to the sufferer is it that his property is 
taken by a national or private armed vessel? Did our mer- 
chants, who have lost nine hundred and seventeen vessels by 
British capture, feel any gratification that the most of them 
were taken by his majesty's men-of-war? War, whether by land 
or sea, is constituted of acts of violence on the persons and prop- 
erty of individuals; and excess of violence is the grand cause 
that brings about peace. 

"In the United States every possible encouragement should 
be given to privateering in time of war with a commercial na- 
tion." 

Jefferson, who went on record with these words, can not be 
accused of being less of a good American or less human than the 
present holder of the presidential chair. 

As a peaceful merchant vessel it is well known that the Lusi- 
tania was a somewhat bristling proposition. This fact was rec- 
ognized as long as two years ago, when the New York Tribune 
called attention to the fact that "the Lusitania will be the first 
British merchantman for more than a century sailing up the 
Lower Bay with black guns bristling over her sides. ' ' 

In its issue of June 10, 1913, the Tribune published the fol- 
lowing article, which between the lines indicates a certain hos- 
tility to the British policy of arming merchantmen : ' ' The rea- 
son why the crack liner Lusitania is so long delayed at Liver- 
pool has been announced to be because her turbine engines are 
being completely replaced, but Cunard officials acknowledged to 
the Tribune correspondent today that the greyhound is being 
equipped with high-power naval rifles, in conformity with Eng- 
land 's naval programs. ' ' 



92 NEUTKALITY 

That sufficiently convicts the pro-English New York Tribune 
and her assumed horror and virtuous indignation in the name 
of ' ' humanity ' ' in regard to the Lusitania and other boats sunk 
by German submarines. Mr. Eichard Harding Davis, in the 
November, 1914, Scribner's, in an article entitled -'The Germans 
in Brussels," stated: "But when, on the third day, we came 
on deck the news was written against the sky : Swinging from 
the funnels, sailors were painting out the scarlet and black col- 
ors of the Cunard Line, and substituting a mouse-like gray. 
Overnight we had passed into the hands of the Admiralty, and 
the Lusitania liad emerged a cruiser." 

Mr. E. H. Davis would make a good witness for the German 
embassy in establishing the truth that the Lusitania was in- 
deed a warship and not an innocent passenger ship, in view of 
the fact that a poor waiter, who happens to be German, is lan- 
guishing in jail now on a trumped-up charge of perjury for hav- 
ing made substantially the same statement. 

CHAPTER XXX 

Arabic. 

As for the Arabic, she was virtually a floating arsenal and 
was barricaded both for attack and defense in the manner of a 
ship of war. The New York World reported that the crew had 
trained themselves as riflemen and that on its last trip from 
Liverpool to New York they had launched a raft in the ocean 
which was used for target practice. The World announced that 
the crew was quite confident of destroying any submarine that 
might come the ship 's way. 

The New York Times told the following significant fact con- 
cerning the Arabic's last sailing from this port: "The Arabic 
was painted a dark gray color, known as 'war gray,' as a pro- 
tection during her journey through the war zone and in further 
anticipation of submarine attacks. The after wheelhouse was 
barricaded with a rampart of sandbags to protect the steering 
apparatus from shell fire. ' ' 

If any American lives were lost the fault rests upon the 
shoulders of our own government, which should have warned 
Americans not to take passage on English men-of-war and Eng- 
lish merchant ships armed to attack German submarines. 
Neither the Lusitania nor the Arabic were entitled to protection 
as merchantmen. The Arabic was not a passenger ship, but a 







COUNT VON BERNSTORFF. 



NEXJTBALITY 93 

sniper of the sea. It is openly acknowledged that she had a 
crew of 100 riflemen effectively trained to "pot" submarines. 

This fact in itself takes her out of the class of ships entitled 
to protection under international law. Our American troops 
shot snipers at Vera Cruz. For the same reason, and with the 
same justification, Germany destroyed the Arabic. There is no 
difference between a sniper on land or sea. The adjustment 
of the cases arising from the sinking of the Lusitania, Arabic 
and other boats is due, not to the "diplomatic victory" of our 
President or his Secretary of State, but to the noble, self-sacri- 
ficing and forbearing attitude of the German Emperor and his 
American Ambassador, Count Von Bernstorff. 

It is this attitude which saved this country from the horrors 
of war with Germany, and every man, woman and child of the 
United States ought to feel heartily grateful that it was Ger- 
many with whom we had this unjustified quarrel and not Eng- 
land. 

It is horrible to contemplate what would have happened if 
England would have been the recipient of the notes we addressed 
to Germany. The reason which the President advanced for his 
demand was the "rights of humanity." Needless to say, this 
found a responsive chord in every American heart, for who of 
us would not make war, if war there must be, as humane and 
little destructive as possible ? So much, moreover, has been said 
and written on this subject since the United States has been a 
nation, that most people had the right to assume that we are 
also officially on record as having defended this position. That 
is, however, not the case. 

The United States has never defended this position and is 
on record as recently as 1899 as having taken the very opposite 
principle. Every European chancellery doubtless possesses a 
copy of the instructions issued to the American delegates to the 
first Hague Conference, and if one could see the grim smile of 
amusement on the faces of the foreign diplomats who compare 
these instructions with President "Wilson's appeal for a less de- 
structive warfare, even the most sanctimonious would probably 
feel somewhat ashamed. 

In the call to the Conference several articles were included 
which proposed that no "new firearms of any description" and 
"no new explosives," etc., should be introduced either on land 
or sea; and in Article 4 it was expressly stated that the use of 
"submarine or diving torpedo boats shall be prohibited." But 



94 NEUTEALITY 

the instructions given the American delegates by the Govern- 
ment of the United States expressly and implicitly stated, that; 

"Tlie expediency of restraining the inventive genius of our 
people in the direction of devising means of defense is by no 
means clear, and, considering tlie temptations to which men and 
nations may be exposed in a time of conflict, it is doubtful if an 
international agreement to this end would prove effective. The 
dissent of a single powerful nation might render it altogether 
nugatory. The delegates are, therefore, enjoined NOT to give 
the weight of their influence to the promotion of projects the 
realization of which is so uncertain." 

This was the official American attitude at The Hague Con- 
ference. When other nations wished to restrict the use of the 
most destructive machines and weapons and to introduce in war 
some of the ' ' rights of humanity, ' ' the United States interposed 
its veto. It does not matter that the wishes of the majority of 
the American people were thereby wantonly disregarded. It was 
their own government which acted, and it did so in accordance 
'with the powers which the people had intrusted to it. 

The action was that of the government. The responsibility 
rests with the people. When America in a peaceful conference 
was asked to defend the "rights of humanity" America refused 
and threw its whole tremendous moral weight against it, and 
now when, in the vicissitudes and sea ambuscades of this war, 
American citizens have been killed, even without direct inten- 
tion, Washington has shown active resentment, by threatening 
Germany. . 

But it seems that this resentment does not apply to the mur- 
ders of American citizens committed day after day, under cir- 
cumstances of malignant cruelty in another part of the world 
and much nearer to home. We do not know upon what theory 
Mexicans are permitted to murder American men and American 
women, unless actual murder upon land is not a crime calling 
for the same resentment shown toward "murder" committed on 
the seas. 

Perhaps our learned State Department has discovered that a 
murder committed in the next dooryard is not so heinous as a 
murder committed on the other side of the street. 

Perhaps brigands and horse thieves have certain inalienable 
rights to rob and kill which are not possessed by organized gov- 
ernments and civilized peoples. 

Perhaps — but why perhaps ? 



NEUTRALITY 95 

The shameful truth remains that men and women of our 
own kith and kin are shot down or subjected to worse savagery 
and that no hand is stretched from their own government either 
to shield them or to punish their villainous murderers and tor- 
mentors. 

A civilized belligerent nation across the sea, engaged m des- 
perate conflict with a powerful alliance of other civilized na- 
tions, sinks one of the ships of its enemy, carrying enemy sol- 
diers and enemy ammunition, and in doing so causes the deaths 
of Americans voyaging on that enemy ship through waters for- 
mally declared to be war zone. 

Our government, without loss of time and in great indigna- 
tion, remonstrates in high terms and makes its willingness to use 
force to prevent a repetition of the incident clearly apparent. 
Mr. Wilson omits no word and declares his instant readiness 
to perform any act which will safeguard American lives and 
American property against German attack. Mr. Wilson vir- 
tually says to Germany: "Americans shall travel on such am- 
munition transports, if they like." 

No matter whether other steamers, free of war material, 
are available, if our foolhardy citizens prefer to go aboard of 
ships whose freight means death or .mutilation to a. hundred 
thousand of your sons, their presence must protect those ves- 
sels from attack! Yes, if one solitary American has had his 
passage given him by the Cunard Company to sit for six days 
on a load of dynamite, that load is sacred from assault, though 
meant for your destruction. Monstrous, is it not? The pres- 
ence of a half dozen hired Yankees would thus guarantee safe 
arrival of enough material to kill a German army corps! 

And at that very instant, and long before and ever since 
American citizens were being cruelly slain and abominably out- 
raged in Mexico, for no other reason than they were Americans 
and that the men had property and the women honor which these 
rapacious and lustful villains coveted. 

And neither at that time, nor at any time before nor at any 
time since, has Mr. Wilson ceased to omit the words and the acts 
necessary to safeguard those American men and women in the 
possession of their property, their lives and their dead honor. 

Upon what principle — unknown to plain men— Mr. Wilson 
thus proceeds one way in one case involving American lives and 
rights and a diametrically opposite way in another case involv- 
ing American lives and rights, one is unable to say or even to 
guess. 



96 



NEUTRALITY 



"Why a German belligerent may not even attack an enemy 
ship, carrying men and ammunition meant to destroy German 
lives, if that attack imperils American citizens, and why a Mex- 
ican belligerent can shoot, stab, hang and mutilate American 
citizens and rob American men of their property and American 
women of their honor, without effective rebuke and without the 
faintest show of force to protect them, is a question which we 
cannot answer and which we refuse even to attempt to answer, ' ' 
says Hearst's New York American, and justly so. The dastardly 
crime, horror and butchery of nineteen Americans at Santa 
Ysabel took place after these lines were written. 

CHAPTER XXXI 

Dollar Humanity. 

"Humanity!" A mighty fine phrase on the lips of blood- 
thirsty Americans trafficking in war material and piling up for- 
tunes in blood money. Judas Iscariot of old certainly had more 




•!r.*«> i l£.-x>*s. : 



PEACE WENT OUT FROM 
BETHLEHEN PAL. 



HELL GOES OUT FROJ 
BETHLEHEM PA. 



m. 



"O! Little Town of Bethlehem!" 

honesty left than that Schwab in Bethlehem, not Palestine but 
Pennsylvania, and other captains of industries of his ilk, for 
Juda,s after he committed his dastardly crime hung himself, be- 
cause, he said: "I have betrayed innocent blood.' ; And that 
is exactly what the Schwabs, the Morgans and their friends, 
traders in blood money and their defenders are doing. 




FERDINAND, CZAR OF BULGARIA. 



NEUTRALITY 97 

Our appeal to humanity must read like a travesty to those 
Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Turks and others whose brothers 
and sons have been slain or maimed by American bullets. Be- 
cently the "American Machinist," a publication of Cleveland, 
printed an advertisement of a new machine for the production 
of shrapnel. In the advertisement it was stated that the shrap- 
nel in question bursts into smaller particles than any other kind 
of shrapnel, and that the fragments are poisonous. 

The advertisers boasted that there was no antidote in exist- 
ence, and that the soldiers wounded by even the smallest splinter 
would die in great agony within a few hours. Did the Lusitania 
carry such shrapnel? We do not know. But can we blame 
Germany if she sinks every boat carrying to her enemies such 
hellish devices? Would the United States permit such traffic 
to go on against herself if it could possibly help it? What right 
have we to prate of "humanity" — while we gain sordid profit 
from instruments of torture and murder? The murder of 184 
innocent American citizens in Mexico evidently does not weigh 
so heavily with the administration as the accidental death of a 
smaller number of American snobs on an English warship. 

Oh, no! the wholesale killing of American men, the bar- 
barous raping of innocent American women, the loss of millions 
of American invaded property has nothing to do with "human- 
ity," but the deliberate suicide of a few most un-American joy 
riders is a terrible violation of the laws of ' ' humanity, ' ' as inter- 
preted by those who put gain in blood money above the con- 
science of their wretched souls and their absolute lack of love 
and brotherhood. 

To what else does it amount than to the utter lack of every 
decent human instinct, the lack of self-respect, religion and 
conscience, this unheard-of traffic in murder implements, this 
wholesale manufacture and exportation of arms and ammuni- 
tions? To help to kill and actually murder thousands upon 
thousands of Austro-Hungarian and German boys serving for 
the glory of their "Fatherland" is, according to our illustrious 
head of the nation, not inhuman, but the drowning of a few 
unpatriotic, pleasure-bent Americans is against all the laws of 
' • humanity ! ' ' Shame on us ! 

It would be "unneutral," claims the bribed, blood-polluted 
"Al-lies" press, and by others it is argued, and the argument 
seems to have weight with the President, that it would be an 
un-neutral act toward England to forbid the exportation of arms 
and munitions of war. We understand that British public men 



98 NEUTRALITY 

take this same view. Times change, and theories of neutral 
duty change with them. Students of English history know the 
conditions which confronted Victoria when she ascended the 
throne. 

What was particularly a revolution had been soothed by 
the reform bills passed under popular pressure, near the end 
of William's reign. But there was discontent at home and 
greater discontent in the colonies. In Canada this discontent 
found expression in armed uprisings in insurrection. Naturally, 
insurrection in Canada could hope for success, if it could hope 
at all, only by procuring arms and munitions from the United 
States. The view of neutral duty which our government then 
took is best expressed in the statutes as enacted, which will be 
found in the Statutes of the United States, year 1838 : 

"Be it enacted, tliat the several collectors, naval officers, 
etc., of the United States shall be . . . required to seize and 
detain any vessel or any arms or munitions of war which may be 
provided or prepared for any military expedition or enterprise 
against the territory or dominions of any foreign Prince or 
State," etc. 

There was no record of any British objection to this statute 
of 1838 on the ground of un-neutrality. On the contrary, now, 
the lawful right of the United States to permit the exportation 
of arms and munitions of war is undoubted, but the lawful right 
of the United States to FORBID the exportation of arms and 
munitions of war is also undoubted. 

There is no legal violation of neutrality in either case. 

CHAPTER XXXII 
Moral Neutrality. 

The only question for us to ask ourselves and to answer is 
whether we want to keep on with the business of making money 
out of wholesale murder or whether we feel that we should stop 
it. This is a moral question, not a "judicial nicety." It is a 
question to be decided, not in courts of law, but in a far higher 
court — in the Supreme Court of Conscience. There's a moral 
neutrality. 

Hall on International Law says: "A neutral nation is in 
general bound not to furnish munitions of war to a belligerent, 
but there is no obligation upon it to prevent its subjects from 
doing so." 



NEUTRALITY 99 

"A neutral nation, likewise, though it cannot itself loan 
money to one of the belligerents, is, by the best authority, under 
no obligation to restrain its subjects from doing so." 

''But while a neutral nation is under no legal obligation to 
restrain its citizens from selling munitions or loaning money to 
a belligerent, is it not under a moral obligation to do sot Are 
we other than unneutral when we permit our factories to work 
day and night manufacturing deadly missiles to be used by 
the allies in killing Germans? 

"Are we not both unneutral and asinine when we encourage 
the continuance of this reprehensible traffic by loaning Great 
Britain and France the money with which to pay for the arms? 
The Allies will get the American-made guns, the makers of the 
guns will get their pay from the Americans who buy the bonds, 
and the fool purchasers of the bonds will get what is coming to 
them — they will get left." 

In a statement recently issued by one of the most distin- 
guished clergymen in this country, Dr. Aked, of San Francisco, 
the immorality of our traffic in arms is emphasized with peculiar 
distinction and force. "What ought we to do?" demands the 
eminent preacher, and as answer he says : 

"We should prohibit the exportation of arms and ammuni- 
tion on grounds of humanity, we should refuse to feed the con- 
flagration of civilization to secure financial profit for ourselves. 
On grounds of public policy we should prevent the further 
growth and insidious influence of great social forces directly 
interested in the continuance and spread of war. On grounds 
of neutrality and national honor, we should escape from a situa- 
tion so uneven, which puts the sincerity of our high professions 
in a dubious light. ' ' 

"Early in the war President Wilson set the influence of the 
government against the raising of war loans in this country. 
We ought at that time to have applied the same principle to 
the exportation of arms. Today far more malignant resistance 
will meet such a proposal. It is commonly assumed that so 
powerful a trade can no longer be curbed. If that is true, the 
better self of the nation is once more helpless against mercenary 
interests. ' ' 

. ' In that case we ourselves now have a war party which dom- 
inates our politics. A strong protest from the moral forces of 
the nation would put that question to test. We cannot afford 
to cry out against war and to get rich on war. America cannot 
afford to garnish the outside of the cup with peace congresses 



100 NEUTRALITY 

while the inside of the cup is filled with the red wine of war 
profits." 

Dr. William Bayard Hale justly says: " There are some 
moral situations which are so clear that it is a mockery to at- 
tempt to becloud them. To pray for peace while at the same 
time we manufacture ammunition with which to make war, to 
pretend to be neutral in a quarrel between two parties while 
we give arms into the hands of one party — to do these things 
is to abandon all decent pretense to national sincerity. ' ' 

"I do not believe the thoughtful people of the country ac- 
quiesce in the immorality and dishonor of hiring out its machine 
shops and its workmen as mercenaries for the bloody business 
of war. I do not believe the people of this country acquiesce 
in the preposterous dictum that, because a war is now going 
on, the United States is not free to alter its own export laws. 
Every reason — moral, economic — -recommends that we should 
cleanse our hands of an abominable crime for which history 
will shame us." 

It is well known that Dr. Hale was President Wilson's spe- 
cial representative in Mexico. Dr. Hale visited the revolution- 
ary chiefs in Northern Mexico and held a series of conferences 
with General Carranza and his staff. These conferences were 
followed shortly afterward by the abolition of the embargo on 
arms and munitions of war, which had placed the revolutionists 
at a disadvantage. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 
Presidential Powers. 

Dr. Hale, who is one of the best-known editors and publicists 
in America, is also the author of "A Week in the White House" 
with President Eoosevelt and of a biography of President Wil- 
son. Dr. Hale enjoys the confidence and most intimate friend- 
ship of Wilson to a degree second to none, and for this reason 
the subjoined communication addressed to the Hearst papers 
are of particular significance and ought not to be omitted from 
this volume. Dr. Hale's article says: 

"No one knows better than does the present President of the 
United States that the form of government of which he is the 
administrative head is far from perfect. No one has been more 
eloquent in declaring the advisability of altering it in a number 
of important, indeed essential, features. 



NEUTEALITY 101 

"In one particular Mr. Wilson was accustomed, long before 
the Presidency came his way, to heap reprobation upon the sys- 
tem which he is now administrating; namely, the particular of 
its irresponsibility to the people. We talk of popular govern- 
ment, but we have never tried popular government, Professor 
Wilson used to tell us; and he would point to the fact that a 
Congress elected in November of one year ordinarily met for 
the first time in December, thirteen months later. 

"But what especially impressed Mr. Wilson, the student of 
government, is the fact that the chief executive of the Union, 
during his term of office, is responsible to nobody. In the whole 
range of governmental systems there is to be found no such 
functionary as the American President — neither a ruler nor the 
minister of a ruler, and yet both ; wielding the prestige of a. sov- 
ereign without enjoying the transcendent prerogatives of sov- 
ereignty, whilst at the same time exercising the authority of a 
prime minister without being restrained by responsibility to rep- 
resentatives of the people. 

"Mr. Wilson, whose ambition for the Presidency was awak- 
ened by reading reports of the British Parliament, has always 
applauded the idea that the President's Cabinet should be made 
responsible to Congress, like the British ministry. He has not, 
however, proposed such a, step since becoming President. In- 
deed, the plan would be difficult to graft upon the American 
system. The Cabinet might resign if an administration measure 
were defeated in Congress, but in what case would that leave 
the President? 

"The fact of the matter is we are muddling along under a 
governmental system that was exceedingly ill thought out and 
we have simply to make the best of it through the exercise of 
such genius as we fondly persuade ourselves we possess and 
such common sense as we are actually masters of. 

' ' The country owes little to Theodore Roosevelt, but it should 
not begrudge him gratitude for some of the things he said in 
his even unusually maladroit speeches at Plattsburg the other 
day. Mr. Roosevelt said : ' It is not defensible for any free man 
in a free republic to say that he will stand by any official, right 
or wrong. The right of any President is only to demand public 
support because he does well, and not merely because he is 
President. ' Mr. Roosevelt is right. 

"The legend, 'The King can do no wrong/ means, in mod- 
ern phraseology, that if wrong has been done the King could 
not have done it; or, in other words, that when the King has 



102 NEUTEALITY 

done wrong, his ministers take the blame. But the President 
of the United States is Ms own ministry. It is absurd to claim 
for his person inviolability sacrosanct beyond the person of 
any citizen, or for his sentiments infallibility beyond the degree 
to which they appeal to the reason of the citizens. 

"Nor is there, in any but the most abject quarters, any real 
disposition to do this. 

"What is practically important, however, is the fact not that 
the people are forbidden to criticize the President, but that they 
are powerless to restrain him. 

"For instance, while the President may not technically de- 
clare war, nothing is more certain than that he can actually 
bring about war. He can assume positions, he can issue state 
papers, he can pursue, during months of critical gravity, a 
course of conduct toward foreign governments of which the 
country may not approve and of which it may be kept in igno- 
rance. 

1 ' This has been the case during the last twelve months. The 
conduct of the foreign relations of the United States has been 
carried on by Woodrow Wilson, acting practically alone. 

" It is a testimony to the high character of the President, but 
it is no credit to the intelligence of the country, that this has 
been suffered; especially is a testimony to the incompleteness 
and inefficiency of our constitutional processes. In a truly dem- 
ocratic country, every act of the Department of Foreign Affairs 
would be challengeable and would be challenged by the opposi- 
tion party. Thus the administrative head of the Nation would 
have had the benefit of advice and criticism, and the country 
would in large measure have been preserved from the danger 
of secret international intrigue or ill-advised international sym- 
pathies. 

1 ' It is true that no safeguards have as yet been invented such 
as totally to abolish this danger. Sir Edward Grey in 1912 
negotiated with France an arrangement which bound the Brit- 
ish Government to support France with her navy if France was 
attacked by Germany — an arrangement of which the British 
parliament was ignorant, and on learning of which for the first 
time on the brink of war to which it led, three members of the 
British ministry resigned their portfolios. 

"It is, of course, necessary that diplomatic affairs should be 
carried on by individuals especially charged with the duty. It 
is not necessary that they should be handed over to the unas- 
sisted wisdom, or the unchecked unwisdom, of one man. 



NEUTRALITY 103 

"No man is wise enough to direct of liis own will, and with- 
out reference to the understanding , wisolom or desires of the 
people, the foreign relations of a 7iation like the United States. 

1 ' Woodrow Wilson is a man of exceptional talents and high 
character. It is not too much to say for him that few presidents 
in our history have been better equipped (except in the item 
of actual participation in public affairs) for the high office to 
which he has risen. 

"But Woodrow Wilson is not above human error. Wisdom 
will not die with him. However moist his lips with the waters 
of Helicon, however odorous his garments with the vapors of 
Parnassus, Mr. Wilson is also numbered among the mortals. 

"Moreover, with all his ability and character there are cer- 
tain quite special limitations which sit upon Mr. Wilson's fitness 
to handle alone a crisis such as we are passing through. 

"He is not, of course, an authority on international law; nor 
could he pretend to any particular knowledge of international 
relations, historical or contemporaneous, save such as may have 
come to him while in office. He is not a student of the map. 
He is not a traveled man. He has never written nor spoken, 
as far as can be remembered, on the political affairs of other 
nations. 

1 ' Except as to one nation only. 

"Mr. Wilson's one passion is English political history. The 
lives of the English political worthies have been his life-long 
study. Since his boyhood days he has been writing and speaking 
about Kichard Cobden, John Bright, Burke, Brougham. The 
incidents of English political life are vivid in his memory and 
imagination. His deals of political organization and conduct 
are drawn from England. 

"He has a keen love for English literature. Whenever he had 
a chance he has spent a vacation in England, whose scenery he 
delights in, enshrining as it does all the literary and historical 
associations which furnish and adorn his mind, and whose people 
he sincerely admires, finding among them congenial acquain- 
tances and friends. When unable to go to England he has re- 
treated to Bermuda, the nearest point at which glimpses of 
English life can be enjoyed. This is natural and laudable in 
one whose mother was born in England and all four of whose 
grandparents were British subjects. 

"On the other hand, Mr. Wilson has never been in Germany. 
He has no knowledge of the German language. He is unfamil- 
iar with the literature of Germany ; he has not drunk at its f oun- 



104 NEUTBALITY 

tains of philosophy; has not heard its songs nor listened to its 
stories. The events and figures of German history are for him 
dim shadows in the pantomime of time. 

"Not that there is anything in the least reprehensible in this. 
But it explains a good deal. 

"And it renders it all tJie more necessary that, in the pres- 
ence of a controversy between English and German ideas, Mr. 
Wilson should take pains to secure from others the knowledge 
which he has not within himself. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 
A Cabinet of Nobodies. 

"But with whom does the President consult? 

" It is the most serious criticism upon Mr. Wilson that he has 
never shown a disposition to surround himself with high class 
men. This was the best-founded of the charges against him 
when he was the head of Princeton University. His cabinet 
is a cabinet of nobodies. As a gathering of political curiosities 
it might be notable. As a council of national direction it is 
contemptible. There is not in it a single man whom the coun- 
try's judgment called to his seat. 

"There is not in it a single man, who, apart from his office, 
would be listened to with any special respect in a gathering of 
a dozen average men of affairs anywhere. Mr. Lansing's tal- 
ents as a diplomatic, attache are perhaps respectable, but it 
would be quite absurd to suggest that this suddenly discovered 
and swiftly promoted subordinate is a statesman. The newly 
appointed Counselor of the Department of State is totally, abso- 
lutely and unblushingly devoid of the slightest qualification for 
his office. The First Assistant Secretary is a bucolic politician 
of the Far West, utterly uninitiate of world affairs. The Sec- 
ond Assistant Secretary, veteran of long and honorable service, 
is physically handicapped ; and the Third Assistant is a precious 
-darling of London drawing-rooms, perfectly competent to adjust 
White House etiquette to the ceremonial practices of the Court 
of St. James. 

"Moreover, two of the Cabinet's ten members were born sub- 
jects of the King of England. 

"Lacking competent permanent advisers, did the President 
seek extraordinary advice in a great emergency? In the pres- 



NEUTRALITY 105 

ence of a crisis, the like of which has faced few Presidents, has 
Mr. Wilson summoned the greatest and best men of the nation 
to council? Has he done what Lincoln did when the clouds of 
1862 grew black? What the Premier of Britain has been doing? 
What prudence would dictate to any head of any nation at such 
a time — gather about him representatives of the wisdom of the 
people ? 

"No. For days after the Lusitania tragedy Mr. Wilson cut 
himself off from all human contact and communication. The 
circumstantial narrative of the isolation during that fatal week 
of a self-sufficient man, moving in lonely thought through the 
silent corridors of the White House, while a nation of a hun- 
dred millions waited upon his decision, was given out by his 
secretaries with apparent pride in the detachment of their 
master. 

"That isolation was not temporary. It was characteristic. 
It is the permanent condition in which Mr. Wilson lives. The 
very office of the Presidency renders its holder almost hopelessly 
out of touch with popular sentiment ; kings and presidents hear 
precisely what it is known they wish to hear. But never was 
President so cut oif from knowledge of the people 's thoughts as 
is this graduate of the college cloister, whose admirers' chief 
delight is to picture him as an enigma and a superior being. 

"President Wilson is far more of a man than his friends 
would make him out. He is neither an enigma nor a superior 
being. He is a sorely troubled man, with something of the pride 
of the mental aristocrat, but with more of the humility of the 
conscientious Christian upon whose heart rests a heavy responsi- 
bility. He is, unfortunately, one of those many men who, 
through no fault of their own, go through life without acquiring 
friends. He has rarely had the good fortune to be well-advised 
and has become skeptical of advice and indisposed to ask it. 
The fact that his life has been passed among juniors contributes 
to this indisposition to invite advice. There is no phrase that 
occurs so constantly in Mr. Wilson's writings as the phrase, 
'Taking counsel.' Every page of his writings, private and 
official, displays the author recommending 'counsel.' The curi- 
ous iteration is a paradoxical 'testimony' that the author has 
never enjoyed that to which his mind is so constantly allured. 

"It is true that no living sovereign would have dared shut 
himself up to decide alone, uncounselled, the vast issue of peace 
and war involving two hemispheres. Mr. Wilson was not con- 



106 NEUTBALITY 

temptuous of advice; he was not accustomed to advice, and did 
not know where to turn for it. 

1 ' Can it be doubted that if the President had consulted the 
common sense of the country he would have spared himself the 
terrific anxieties which have tortured him since he rashly laid 
upon Germany the demand that she abandon her submarine 
activity — a demand the folly of which only the obscuring mercy 
of delay and the fact that a government whose armies were 
gaining daily victories could afford to be conciliatory, have 
worked together to efface? 

' ' Fortune has now opened to President Wilson a rare oppor- 
tunity. A kind Providence has saved tJie country from tJie 
immediate catastrophe which his dangerous policy invited. A 
respite has come for the German crisis. With a magnanimity 
which few expected from it, the Kaiser's government has taken 
toward the President's expectations a position of high gener- 
osity and friendliness. It accedes to them, freely and fully. 
At the same time, without stipulation, it suggests that the 
United States make to Great Britain representations parallel to 
those to which it has acceded. 

"The suggestion is just. It throws upon the United States 
government a duty which should he immediately set about in the 
most generous measure of good faith. 

"The President has now another opportunity at last to take 
counsel of the wisdom of the people — that wisdom he has so 
often eloquently apostrophized, but with which he has done so 
little to acquaint himself. If he will consult it he will learn 
that it demands the vindication against England also of our 
violated dignity — the assertion now against England of the right 
of American citizens to sail the seas with lawful cargoes — a 
right which for a year has been trampled upon by the British 
government, not as an impulsive war measure, but with calcula- 
tion and persistency, viciously and contemptuously. ' ' 

There is a great deal of excuse for England's arrogant dis- 
regard of our rights and our protests in the action and attitude 
of an influential minority of Americans, including many of our 
metropolitan papers, which are more English than American. 
It is these "hyphenated" Americans who have caused the gen- 
eral impression in England and Europe that America's neu- 
trality is a polite fiction, that in reality America is a silent ally 
of England, and that our notes of protest to England are merely 
formalities designed to preserve the appearance of neutrality. 



CHAPTER XXXV 
Are We Afraid of England? 

The Congress now in session may consider an embargo and 
will probably bring England quickly to the realization that we 
mean to have our rights respected. But do we mean to defend 
our rights against England? Will our government dare take 
against England an attitude for our rights as strong as it did 
against Germany? Has it really come to this, thai we're afraid 
of England? Since when have we Americans become cowards 
showing the Ci white feather" just because England happens to 
have a few more ships or because she has the Japs for her ally? 
Surely these cannot be the reasons. Or will not our hyphenated 
citizens of British descent be able to stop any action which Eng- 
land might resent? It almost looks that what the English want, 
they'll get! Look at that 500 million dollar loan! 

If there was in the history of nations a pronounced instance 
of turning the other cheek also, and turning it for a commission 
of one-half of 1 per cent, it waj3 witnessed in the City of New 
York, with city and country banks following J. P. Morgan, Jr., 
as sheep follow their bell wether over a precipice. "It is a safe 
bet," said an incredulous sport, "that if Morgan and his 'skin- 
dieate' were next month to pass in their checks, no British bond 
would be found among their assets. ' ' 

What except unfairness have we received commercially from 
England since the war broke out ? To our remonstrances against 
England's repeated violations of international law, by inter- 
ference with our commerce, England's practical reply has been 
to continue the practice. 

Cargoes of wheat shipped from New York to a Mediterranean 
port, cargoes of cotton to Rotterdam and cargoes of meat to 
Copenhagen have been seized by Great Britain on the ground 
that their ultimate destination was German mills and German 
stomachs. Cargoes of beef, seed and cotton cloth and toys from 
Rotterdam for New York have been seized by Great Britain to 
the extent of $150,000.00, on the ground that they "originated" 
in Germany. 

Under the British doctrine British cruisers might seize all 
American goods coming from or destined to any country that 
had a German frontier. For we keep turning the other cheek. 
Plutus shakes hands with Moloch, and we help Britains to mur- 
der Germans. We make munitions for the Allies and loan them 

107 



108 NEUTEALITY 

money with which, to buy food while they continue the throat- 
cutting. 

All for a commission of one-lialf of 1 per cent. 

It is amazing that the British should go through the form 
of borrowing our money. Why don't tliey just take it? The 
American financiers who did put 500 million American gold 
dollars into the war chest of Great Britain are neither neutral 
nor patriotic Americans. As things are going, and with no 
guilt of blood on our hands, the financial domination of the 
world is surely coming within our grasp. The British pound, 
the French franc, the Russian ruble are falling in value com- 
pared with the American dollar. 

Thus a great and favorable exchange profit comes to the 
legitimate manufacturer and producer of the United States. 
These Wall Street financiers propose that we shall actually strip 
ourselves of the one huge innocent advantage of the war in 
order to secure the payment of blood money to the makers of 
the weapons of murder and to prolong indefinitely the grief and 
guilt of war. 

Against this unpatriotic, this unprofitable, this un-neutral, 
this inhuman course of proposed conduct we protest in tlie name 
of neutrality, in the name of patriotism, in the name of human- 
ity, and, finally, in the name of civilization, itself thus menaced 
and imperiled and rapidly being brought face to face with the 
destruction of all its gains through so many wonderful centuries 
of the white man's struggles and achievements. 

If we believe in the God to whom we pray, in the religion 
which we profess, in the principles of the beneficent government 
under which we live, let us do no single thing to prolong this 
dreadful war. Let us, on the contrary, inspired with a deep 
sense of duty and devotion, do everything that can be done 
honorably and impartially to end this dreadful war. 

President Wilson, in his address before the Daughters of 
the American Revolution, defining "Neutrality," said: "Neu- 
trality is a negative word. It is a word tliat does not express 
what America ought to feel. America has a heart, and that 
heart throbs with all sorts of intense sympathies ; out America 
has schooled its heart to love the things that America believes 
in, and it ought to devote itself only to the things that America 
believes in, and, believing that America stands apart in its 
ideals, it ought not to allow itself to be drawn, so far as its heart 
is concerned, into anybody's quarrel." 



NEUTRALITY 109 

Very fine sounding words and phrases on paper ! But have 
we lived up to them? If America's heart throbs for " sym- 
pathies and ideals," does that mean that it should sympathize 
with the killing of thousands and thousands of soldiers and 
sympathize with belligerent efforts to starve out a nation's 
women and children? 

If ' ' the American heart ought not to allow itself to be drawn 
into anybody's quarrel," why in the name of Heaven has and 
is America trying to butt into Germany's quarrel with Eng- 
land? "Humanity itself is America's cause," said Mr. Wilson 
in another part of the same address. Well, if the attitude of 
the American press and that of the government of which the 
President of the nation is the head and heart conforms to this 
sentiment, God deliver us from such "humanity!" 

Continuing, Mr. Wilson says: "Some of the best stuff of 
America has come out of foreign lands, and some of the best 
stuff in America is in the men who are naturalized citizens of 
the United States. I would not be afraid upon the test of 
"America first" to take a census of all the foreign-born citi- 
zens of the United States, for I know that the vast majority 
of them came here because they believed in America, and their 
belief in America has made them better citizens than some peo- 
ple who were born in America." 

Who were and are the "some people?" one may ask. Are 
they the English, who very rarely become American citizens, or 
are they the Germans and Austro-Hungarians, who have given 
the best in them in the preservation and maintenance of this, 
our country of America? Now every one who knows the inter- 
national situation knows that France and Italy are the two coun- 
tries which not only allow but solemnly uphold the principle of 
dual citizenship while Germany clearly rejects it. France and 
Italy hold that the man who is born on their soil can never lose 
his native citizenship, and if he becomes naturalized in America, 
he remains a Frenchman or an Italian nevertheless and has to 
serve with the army of his country if he happens to be on his 
native soil when a war breaks out. Germany takes exactly the 
opposite ground. A German who has become naturalized in 
America has lost by virtue of that act his German citizenship. 
It is true that the German law allows in exceptional cases dual 
citizenship with special permission of the home government, but 
this permission never applies to the United States of America, 
because the naturalization act there includes a direct renouncing 
of the native allegiance. Those exceptional permissions are 



110 NEUTRALITY 

given especially in semi-civilized lands where the commercial 
man goes for a limited time but is at a commercial disadvantage 
when he does not take up citizenship for the period of his stay. 
There are millions of German-born American citizens today, not 
one of whom is at the time a German citizen, while French and 
Italian-born American citizens are by the law of their native 
land at the same time Frenchmen arid Italians. To present this 
international dual citizenship as if the Allies had nothing to do 
with such a doubtful practice, but as if the Germans were the 
sinners is a distortion of the political truth from which other 
men would shirk even when the aim is to stir up courage for the 
buying of bonds in the war loan. 

CHAPTER XXXVI 
" Chartered Liars." 

To what extent the "neutrality" of the in normal times 
clean, healthy and sane American press has been polluted, what 
sinister and baleful influence was wrought upon the average 
American newspaper reader by the insidious, dirty, under- 
ground, bribed and " chartered liars" of the " Al-lies" press, our 
newspapers amply proved. Addressing Conan Doyle, and an- 
swering his infamous and scurrilous article, which already has 
been alluded to, and which was published in the London Chron- 
icle, Mr. Bennett, war correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, 
says: 

"Unscrupulous correspondents, too, have been a deplorable 
factor in this war. Of few of them. I regret to say, country- 
men of mine, who have written and got printed in America the 
most hideous charges against the Germans, the American Min- 
ister to Belgium, Mr. Whitlock, said to me: "These men are 
rats and a disgrace to journalism." 

"I violate no confidence when I add that this diplomat's sym- 
pathies, though he had not publicly expressed them, were with 
the Belgians. But he none the less hated lies about the enemies 
of Belgium. I mention the case of these correspondents be- 
cause you speak of the consistent systematic lying of the Ger- 
man press. ' ' 

"The Germans are not liars! They are so loyal to the truth 
that their loyalty sometimes lapses into gross bluntness of 
speech. They call a spade a spade, and their bluntness some- 
times leads them to use a crude word when another would do 



NEUTRALITY 111 

as well. They consider a lie not clever, but ignominious, and 
their point of view was given with beautiful terseness one day 
by a certain Alfred Mannesman, who was storming about some 
peculiarly hideous slander which had appeared in an Euro- 
pean journal which the Germans call "The Daily Liar." (Mr 
Bennett is referring to the Daily Mail of London.— Auth. note.) 
"These chartered liars whom Minister Whitlock denounced 
and who were getting their lies printed in England and Amer- 
ica wrote things that for falseness and scurrility and bombast 
I have not seen even faintly approached in the least trustworthy 
sheets of Germany. 

"Just one more point. In a document addressed a few days 
a<"0 by British women living in Aachen Ho his Britannic Maj- 
esty's Government,' I find this sentence: 'The British women 
in Germany submit that up to the present they have been treated 
with the greatest forbearance and consideration by the German 
authorities, as befitted the representatives of this great nation. 

/'That is a testimony from your own people. My testimony 
is the testimony of an American who loves England and who 
has not a drop of German blood in his veins. What things I 
have seen I have set down because I believe that what raises 
the man of my calling above the level of a, scribbler is the telling 
of the truth." . . . 

One of those correspondents christened by Ambassador 
Whitlock "rats" and "chartered liars" is known in the field 
of journalism as a war correspondent, in the field of fiction as 
a successful author, and enjoys the confidence of the publishers 
as well as of the reading public, at least he has until now. He 
served in this war as one of the war correspondents of the New 
York Tribune, whose motto, printed on the editorial page of the 
paper, is: "From first to last the truth, editorially, m news 
and advertisements. ' ' 

The New York Tribune took particular pride in having this 
man as its war correspondent. It advertised him on all the 
high and by wavs of New York City and elsewhere, in glaring 
bold electric lights, on electric advertising signs and on all 
available roofs or walls where it could place its "ad. 

The "news" that this man sent his paper was nothing 
else but a tissue of lies— pure fiction filled with venom, hatred, 
bitterness, calumny— libel directed against the^ Germans and 
their brave and true allies, the Austro-Hunganans ! But the 
glory didn't last long, because the "rat" had to come home. 



112 NEUTEALITY 

He was quickly recalled, as the paper soon found out the cal- 
ibre of its highly paid, overrated and overadvertised journal- 
istic buccaneer. 

Finding his usefulness as war correspondent gone he col- 
lected his lies and published them in book form under the title 
"With the "Al-lies!" He is at present in Paris, acting as 
messenger boy for our Rough Rider to the President of the 
French Republic. 

The other "liar," who has since also returned to America, is 
trying to eke out a living by writing rotten, silly, lying, con- 
temptible war stories for the daily which also has a motto read- 
ing : "If you see it in the Sun it 's so. " 

This literary hack, so justly termed by our Ambassador 
Whitlock and appropriately called by Mr. Bennett, of Chicago 
Tribune fame, "chartered liar," furnished this paper a story 
entitled: "The Kissing of the Sword." Under this headline 
it was stated that high-voiced women of title were chattering 
over their tea cups in the smartest hotel in Munich, when into 
their midst swaggered the Crown Prince Ruppert of Bavaria, 
with his sabre newly sharpened and his abdomen girt for war. 

His wife is represented as running to him, kissing his sabre 
and shouting: "Bring it back to me covered with blood — that 
I may kiss the sword again!" And other high-voiced women 
nocked to kiss the sword. 

This dime novelism only needs to be mentioned to have its 
absurdity made evident. The idea of a crown princess of Ba- 
varia meeting her husband in a second-rate hotel is ridiculous 
to begin with, for her to kiss his sword in public is a perform- 
ance impossible outside of a moving picture or in the "news" 
columns of some of the dailies, and by its obvious improbability 
the story confounds itself. Yet the public, in its haste, does 
not stop to criticize such matter. Doubtless, millions of Amer- 
icans still allow themselves to believe that this luridly described 
affair really took place. 

Its absolute falsity is demonstrated by the fact that the 
wife of Crown Prince Ruppert died in October, 1912, two years 
before this war broke out. So one can judge how well the term 
"chartered liar" applied to the writer of that story. His sec- 
ond story published in the same paper relates to a young Aus- 
trian girl who, according to the story of this man, was shot 
by the Austrian authorities for warning her brother, who is 
in America, not to return and join the army. 



NEUTRALITY 113 

This penny-a-liner claimed that he got the story from a 
Catholic priest, who investigated the matter and verified the 
truth of it. As soon as the story was printed the enterprising 
and widely read German paper, the German Herold, in New 
York, offered $50.09, to be given to any charity that ''rat" may 
designate, if he will substantiate and prove his story in any 
manner that is satisfactory to his employers' editorial depart- 
ment. 

The editors of the "Fatherland" offered another additional 
$50.00 to him or to any charity, and challenged him to prove 
the story. And what happened? This "chartered liar" 
answered those papers' challenge by refusing to give the names, 
alleging that, as the relatives of the young man and the family 
of the girl are still living, he must refuse to give the girl's or 
the young man's name, and said: "For those who know him 
and the high position he occupies in New York and Rome, his 
word suffices." 

He might have qualified this statement by saying that those 
who know him and the "positions he is usually found in" ought 
to enlighten anybody as to how much truth there is in any of 
his stories and how much credence is to be placed in the work 
of such a journalist and "war correspondent." No doubt, how- 
ever, he will continue to favor the gullible public with sundry 
fabrications of his diseased brain as long as there is a paper 
willing to pay for the rot. 

One day last summer, during the exposition days of San 
Francisco, large, glowing posters appeared on the boards, fences 
and houses of that beautiful city, announcing a lecture in the 
Shriners' Auditorium by the "most illustrious and celebrated 
war correspondent," the "only one who has been with the 
French and English general staff and the sole accredited 'eye- 
witness' of the battles at the Marne and Flanders!" 

Curiosity led a few to attend the lecture. The hall was 
sparsely filled with a "handful" of New England spinsters and 
some cadaverous-looking males. At the entrance to the lecture 
hall flyleaf s and pamphlets were thrust into everybody's hands 
advertising a palmist and announcing that the receipts of the 
evening would be devoted to the founding of a "new occult mag- 
azine. ' ' 

Well, to make a long story short, out came this "eyewit- 
ness'^ with a monocle in his right eye, and of all the rot, of all 
the silly, foolish and lying stories that have ever been told or 
written by the so-ealled "war correspondents" of our "Al-lies" 



114 NEUTRALITY 

press, this fellow's "war stories" certainly deserved and earned 
the Victoria Cross. 

It was positively disgusting to contemplate how an Ameri- 
can newspaper man and writer of some standing, which he un- 
doubtedly possesses, can sink so low in his own estimation and 
self-respect as to treat a seemingly intelligent, sane American 
audience to such ghost stories about the Kaiser, Kaiserin and 
everybody else close and near to the German Court and people. 

But what can one expect of a man who gets his earnings 
and makes a living out of such literary efforts as are contained 
in the book entitled: "How to Eat and Get Thin in Three 
Months for One Dollar/' while he himself looks like a perambu- 
lating beer-barrel. 

The third "knight" in the trio of these press musketeers is 
the correspondent of the New York World, who has collected 
his impressions into a volume entitled "Fighting in Flanders." 
This ' ' liar ' ' states that he arrived in Belgium without the slight- 
est sympathy for any of the belligerents, but that he was com- 
pletely converted to the Belgian cause by the spectacle of Ger- 
man atrocities in that country. 

As regards his testimony of the massacre of women, children 
and old men at Aerschot and Vilvorde, his statements, he says, 
are ' ' absolutely incontrovertible. ' ' At Vilvorde he saw the Ger- 
mans take an old man, hang him by the hands to the beams of 
his home and then burn him alive, etc., etc. . . . relating 
stories of the most revolting character. . . . Soon after the 
story was published a court investigation was promptly insti- 
tuted, with the result that the World report was judicially 
branded with deliberate falsehood. 

The first Belgian to repudiate the story wa$ Xavier Buiseth, 
mayor of the town of Vilvorde, who, having been duly sworn 
and informed of the nature of the examination, testified that 
the whole story was an atrocious fake. Another witness was 
the interpreter, Josef van Balbergh, of Vilvorde, who under 
oath declared that this man's stories are absurd, false and 
lying. 

This Belgian official witness said: . . . "Nor did I hear 
of any women and children and old men being 'massacred' in 
Vilvorde or its suburbs; in fact, no one in Vilvorde was shot 
or otherwise killed, nor were any women and children killed in 
any of the suburbs by German troops. In the suburbs of Hou- 
than several residents were killed during the fighting, but it 
was their own fault." 



NEUTRALITY 115 

The reader may judge for himself from this testimony of 
unimpeachable witnesses to what length this man of the New 
York World did go to poison American sentiment. In whose 
interest is the New York World working? It is easily guessed. 

Lies of this kind just related or similar, deliberate or based 
upon complete ignorance of conditions, prepare the mind of 
the public for the more sinister suggestions of another class of 
writers who did and do provoke hostile feelings and activities 
between friendly nations. . 



CHAPTER XXXVII 
England's Debt to the American Press. 

The formation of public opinion in the United States, as 
well as throughout the rest of the world by means of inventions 
disseminated by the British government through the English 
and French press and news agencies with their cable system, 
was and is responsible for the American attitude in this war! 

George Moore, in the San Francisco Examiner, writes: 
* ' Europe knows America and Americans misunderstand Europe 
through news bearing the London date. Negro burning, the 
Camorra, bull fights, the Dreyfus case, the Russian Jew slaugh- 
ters, pass to and fro as "news" through London. Since the 
establishment of the Triple Entente, London remade the French 
character for the world. 

1 ' On the date of the Entente 's beginning, the myth of French 
decadence became the miracle of French renaissance. From the 
same moment the 'Russian Bear' that walks like a man was 
transformed by Dr. Dillon (war correspondent of the London 
Daily Telegraph — author's note) and a host of lesser English, 
into a simple Christian hero. Everyone remembers the English- 
told story of the Japanese-Russian war. That story drove us 
mad with admiration for the Japanese, England's allies. 

4 ' From London the news poured into our papers always for 
Japan, until we served as England's tool to help humiliate 
Russia by a disastrous peace and hated the Japanese since the 
next day after the treaty was signed. During the Russo-Jap- 
anese war the British system of press misinformation "fed up" 
the newspapers of the United States with pro-Japanese matter. 
We were, consequently, admiring our "little brown brothers," 
an admiration which has sensibly cooled since the truth of the 



116 NEUTEALITY 

relation of the United States and the Japanese had dawned upon 
the public. 

"Now that Russia is an ally of England, Dr. Eliot, ex-presi- 
dent of Harvard, is trying to have us believe that in the brief 
time since the massacres of Kishinef, Russian civilization has 
been so greatly improved that Russia may today be considered 
' ' the torch bearer of enlightenment. ' * 

The enormous effect on public opinion of such lies cannot 
be estimated. The misrepresentation is furthered by the dis- 
honesty of our daily press, the greater part of which publishes 
all the lies which emanate from London, and even goes so far 
as to discant in lengthy editorials upon the "news" topics so 
published. For the most part this is an exhibition of stupidity, 
as most of the editors swallow what comes through the cables 
without investigation, so long as it is sensational enough. 

When, however, the real truth transpires, such news, if 
printed at all, is given some obscure position on an inside page 
in small type, while the original report of which it is the cor- 
rection appeared under bold headlines, on the front page. The 
editors credit the public thus with a lack of intelligence by no 
means complimentary — indeed, they place the public on a plane 
of stupidity even beneath their own. 

Such reports and inspired editorials, however, cannot be but 
of temporary injury to Germans and German- Americans who 
are inferentially included in the besmirching process. Eventu- 
ally, the papers which circulate such matter will be discredited. 
The reputation of the British nation, so long known to history 
as "Perfidious Albion," will attach to its sycophants in this 
country, and the newspapers which report and often deliber- 
ately amplify and elaborate upon the false information sup- 
plied, will come to be known — if they are not already known — 
as "the subsidized organs of the British government." 

It's a fact that but for the baleful influence of the Eng- 
lish press the true extent of Germany's power, both intellectual 
and physical, would have been known and appreciated, and that 
if it had been a restraining influence would have been exerted 
by this 'country which would have caused the Allies to hesi- 
tate, and which might even have prevented the war. 

England, self-centered and selfish, has refused to reognize 
the progressiveness and accomplishments of Germany, and the 
press of the United States, as well as of other countries, has 
underestimated Germany in every way, and has consequently 



NEUTEALITY 117 

been in a false position before its readers which, it still seeks to 
justify by fanning anti-German prejudice. 

The press of this country allowed itself to be led by the 
notoriously lying and defamatory press of England. What it 
was, whether money, influence, or merely the fact that the lan- 
guage of both is English, that made the United States press a 
willing and subservient ally of England, is hard and difficult to 
define and to state. The fact was and is that our press joined in 
the "cant" and became the powerful ally of England's perfidy. 
The English newspapers readily admit it and gloat over it. 
For instance the London Chronicle of October 21, 1914, openly 
states that: 

"The debt that England owes tlie newspaper world of 
America cannot be estimated. Tlie editors of tlie best journals 
have been fearless and very shrewd champions of the Allies* 
cause. It is these editors who have made the German monster 
a reality to the American people and this quietly and with the 
most deadly effect. ~We have no better Allies in America than 
the editors of the great papers." 

At the beginning of the crisis, Germany was not understood, 
and only now is the press awakening to the true state of condi- 
tions and realizing the error of trusting so blindly a country 
so cynical and destructive as England. Better late than never." 

For years past the reports of the Berlin correspondents of 
the Times and of the London Daily Mail have been a perfect 
disgrace. The correspondent of the latter represented also the 
New York Times, and so one can understand what ails the 
editor in the tower of the New York Times Building. 

The writer knew this correspondent personally. Many a 
"confidential" talk did he have in regard to what that corre- 
spondent called the "next big blow out" and what this un- 
scrupulous man — by the way, he's an American — with the in- 
vention of positive and negative lies has achieved is well 
nigh impossible to believe. The doors of all the municipal, state 
and government offices were always open to him, he played the 
social lion, he was feted by the mighty and by the rich, and 
enjoyed the hospitality of "everybody who's anybody" in Ber- 
lin. 

But his heart was black; he was a spy and a traitor. It 
was often asked why the German people did not whip this base 
vilifier across the frontier of their country. The answer was 
"he is an American" and Americans were always liked in the 
capital of William II. The second reply given was: ''There is 



118 NEUTRALITY 

no law in Germany against lying," and, consequently, the fellow 
was allowed to carry on his nefarious work, to the detriment of 
the Germans, as they found out too late. 

The lordly "boss" of this newspaper "rat" has an interest 
in at least one New York paper, though the paper is denying 
it; and is also one of the biggest stockholders in the Novoja 
Vremja, Russia's leading paper. He began and continued to 
send these "atrocity" stories about the Germans and Austro- 
Hungarians, which all his and the "Al-lies" American papers 
spread, printed and reprinted to satisfy the morbid taste and 
curiosity of the average unthinking American reader. 

It is not to be wondered, then, that the American public, 
with its sentimental heart, with its painful susceptibility for 
the unfortunate and unhappy victims, turned with wrath against 
the Germans. And "those who knew" always contributed the 
anti-German sentiment in this country primarily and princi- 
pally to this cause! One who knows the Americans well will 
hardly make himself to believe that the question of Belgian 
neutrality alone could have provoked in the heart of the aver- 
age level-headed American business man the anti-German feel- 
ing which made of every German a "barbarian," a "vandal" 
and "a Hun!" 

CHAPTER XXXVIII 
Vindications. 

It is known now that the atrocity stories were fakes, hallu- 
cinations of sensational penny-a-liner and irresponsible news- 
paper reporters calling themselves "war correspondents," but 
who weren't any nearer to the war theatre, any nearer to a 
battle scene, than the average reader of this volume is just now. 

The real, the genuine war correspondent, the newspaper man 
and reporter who took his work seriously and could measure up 
to the great responsibility of his profession and of his duties 
in a calamity, in a crisis of the kind such as this war is, reported 
no atrocities because he saw none, he heard of none because there 
were none. 

The statement as printed below emanates from five highly 
respected, decent and brilliant American war correspondents. 
The statement should have sufficed forever to stop the publica- 
tion of so-called atrocity stories. It reads: 

"We are also unable to confirm rumors of mistreatment of 
prisoners or of non-combatants with the German columns. This 



NEUTRALITY 119 

is true of Louvain, Brussels and Luneville while in Prussian 
hands. We visited Chateau Soldre, Sambre and Beaumont 
without substantiating a single wanton brutality. Numerous 
investigated rumors proved groundless. Everywhere we have 
seen Germans paying for purchases and respecting property 
rights as well as according civilians every consideration. After 
the Battle of Biars (probably Bars), a suburb of Namur, we 
found Belgian women and children moving comfortably about. 
Refugees with stories of atrocities were unable to supply direct 
evidence. . . . The discipline of the German soldiers is ex- 
cellent, as we observed. To the truth of these statements we 
pledge our professional and personal word. Signed: James 
O'Donnell Bennett, Chicago Tribune; John T. McCutcheon, 
Chicago Tribune; Roger Lewis, Associated Press; Irwin S. 
Cobb, Saturday Evening Post; Harry Hansen, Chicago Daily 
News." 

The United States Government, through a special commis- 
sion composed of eminent, reliable and trustworthy Americans, 
had these atrocity charges investigated, only to find that there 
were no atrocities committed on Belgians or English by Ger- 
mans or by any of their allies. Here's the statement of the 
U S. Government as it was sent to the papers for publication: 

"WASHINGTON, JAN. 27.— INQUIRY IN BRITAIN 
FINDS NO OUTRAGES DONE TO BELGIANS. THOU- 
SANDS OF CHARGES MADE AGAINST GERMANS IN- 
VESTIGATED BY GOVERNMENT AND FOUND BASE- 
LESS." 

' ' Of the thousands of Belgian refugees who are now in Eng- 
land not one has been subjected to atrocities by German sol- 
diers. 

"This, in effect, is the substance of a report received at the 
State Department from the American Embassy in London. The 
report states that the British Government had thoroughly in- 
vestigated thousands of reports to the effect that German sol- 
diers had perpetrated outrages on the fleeing Belgians. During 
the early period of the war, columns of British newspapers were 
filled with these accusations. 

"Agents of the British Government, according to the report 
from the American Embassy at London, carefully investigated 
all of these charges; they interviewed the alleged victims and 
sifted all the evidence. 

"As a result of the investigation the British Foreign Office 
notified the American Embassy that the charges appeared to be 



120 N E U T E A L I T Y 

based upon hysteria and natural prejudice. The report added 
that many of the Belgians had suffered severe hardships, but 
they should be charged up against the ' ' exigencies of war rather 
than the brutality of the individual German soldiers. ' ' 

Of all the papers printed in English in New York, the New 
York American was the only one that reprinted this report. 
The "neutral" Times never carried a line of it; in fact, on the 
same day when this United States Government statement was 
printed in the New York American, the Times gave a whole col- 
umn of space to a Belgian "lunatic," who recited again his woes 
in regard to atrocities committed by Germans on his "poor 
little Belgians. ' ' 

So Americans know now — if they didn't know before — or if 
they still have any doubts — what these atrocity stories amounted 
to. The bubble bursted long ago and it 's high time now for them 
to make up for the cruelty some of them have exercised upon 
the character and heart of those noble sons of Germany and 
Austro-Hungary who are shedding their rich, wholesome and 
untainted blood for a just cause — for their country, for their 
mothers, fathers and children, sacrificing their lives with un- 
daunted courage, with unparalleled heroism for real freedom 
and liberty, and not for the humbug, sham article that perfidi- 
ous, hypocritical England is shouting about in its own, as well 
as in its allied lying American press. 

This report of the United States Government serves also as 
a flat repudiation and denial of the charges and nefarious accu- 
sations of Mr. James Bryce, former English Ambassador to 
America, who has published a book about German atrocities. 
The United States Government brands him as a base, low villi- 
fier and one of the most sinister liars of English diplomacy. 

CHAPTER XXXIX 
The Atrocious Cossack. 

And yet, if it is said that there were no atrocities at all, it is 
not stating the facts exactly. There were no atrocities com- 
mitted by the Germans, but there were plenty and the most hor- 
rible, terrifying and unspeakable cases committed by the faith- 
ful ally and friend of England, the Kussians. 

Mr. Bayard Swope, a special correspondent of the New York 
World, was sent by his paper to investigate especially these 
stories committed by the brutal vodka-sodden Cossacks on the 



NEUTRALITY 121 

eastern scene of war, in Austrian Galicia and East Prussia. Mr. 
Swope is known as one of the most reputable, brilliant and abso- 
lutely truthworthy newspaper men in New York City. 

His statements are unquestionably true and incontrovertible. 
Returning from the war scenes in Europe, his report in the Sun- 
day edition of October 31, 1914, created a tremendous impres- 
sion, and must have given cause to the publisher of his paper, 
for some hard thinking. The headlines of Mr. Swope's report 
read as follows : 

"Cossacks guilty of wildest atrocities World Man finds. Even 
looted Russian towns. In personal investigation in East Prus- 
sia Jte learns that villages were burned without cause, pien, 
boys and women slain after being tortured, and wives and 
daughters outraged. Aged pauper only man spared in one place, 
witnessed death of his friends." 

This summary of the material contained in the report will 
give Americans an adequate idea, of the stories themselves. 
There were so revolting in their nature that they surprised 
everyone and even the callous World saw them unfit to reprint. 

Those beastly Russians, who ran away from battles and gave 
up the strongest fortresses in the world with hardly a struggle, 
are well known as past masters at burning and destroying the 
homes and crops of the wretched Polish peasants and at driving 
tens of thousands of noncombatant men, women and children to 
die of exhaustion and starvation along the devastated highways 
and in the vast swamps of the unhappy regions through which 
these poltroons, murderers are fleeing before the numerically in- 
ferior but heroic forces of the victorious Hungarians and Ger- 
mans. 

Americans have read for many months how the British press 
bureaus related and reprobated German "atrocities" in Belgium 
and how faithfully "Al-lies" papers in America reprinted 
them. But we have yet to hear from any British newspaper or 
English press bureau, statesman, orator or military officer a 
single word in condemnation of the savage and awful cruelties 
which the Russians have inflicted, and still are inflicting, upon 
the helpless folk in Galicia, Poland and the Baltic provinces. 
Much has been said and printed about "poor little Belgium,'' 
but mighty little has reached the American reader about "poor 
little Prussia" or Galicia! 

One can imagine the fervid indignation and horror with 
which the London press agencies would describe these savage 



122 N E TJ T K A L I T Y 

orgies of cruelty and destruction, if England were in alliance 
with Germany, fighting Eussia. . . . 

As for the persecution of the Jews, it is, as everybody knows, 
ancient history. The Pogroms in Eussia, which have been so 
often and so vividly described and so profusely illustrated in the 
New York World and in the New York Times, should have had 
sufficiently restraining influence with the Jewish proprietors of 
those papers, especially of the Times, not to ally himself and his 
valuable widely read paper with the eternal enemy and foe of 
his race and coreligionists. 

Under the known circumstances one would expect that prom- 
inent Jews — in fact, all Jews in neutral lands, especially those 
in free America, to give their sympathies to Germany, even if 
Eussia, that enemy of all civilization, were not arrayed upon the 
side of Germany's enemies. . . . Descriptions by Benjamin 
Segal, in his excellent book, "The World War and the Fate of 
the Jews," rend the heart of everyone. 

For instance, "30,000 old Jewish men, as well as women 
and children, were driven by the Eussians in front of their lines 
at Nadworna, so that the Austrian bullets would strike them 
first." 

Says Mr. Charles A. Collman in the Fatherland: "Mr. 
Ochs, do you remember how, some months ago, you featured 
the story of an English ship captain who arrived here and said : 
'At my home in England are two golden-haired Belgian chil- 
dren, whose hands have been cut off by German Huns. Such 
fiendishness is inconceivable. ' ' ' Men in New York sent a cable 
despatch that day to the captain's wife in England. She sent 
back word indignantly that there were no such golden-haired 
children at her home, nor had she ever heard of them. 

"Did you then, Mr. Ochs, print an editorial on this story, 
condemning the English dastard who would circulate so base 
a tale against a brave and noble race % NO, YOU WOULD NOT 
FEATURE THE TEUTH. 

"Mr. Ochs, you published in extenso the Bryce charges of 
atrocities against the Germans, and the faked Armenian atroc- 
ities of this 'atrocity expert;' you printed the Belgian charges 
of atrocities against the Germans, the French charges, even the 
Eussian charges. But when the German Government printed 
its volume, with affidavits of the sickening enormities practised 



N E U T E A L I T Y 123 

by Russians agains the German populations of East Prussia, 
you suppressed the book! 

1 ' Why did you suppress it, Mr. Ochs ? I shall tell the public 
why. You knew that the English at the very beginning of the 
war raised the atrocity cry, because they feared the enormities 
their allies, the Russians, would commit and the barbarities their 
own Indian and African mercenaries are perpetrating in France 
to-day. They raised a false clamor to conceal the truth. You 
feared to publish the German charges against the Russians, 
BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT BY THEIR PUBLICATION, 
AMERICAN SYMPATHY MIGHT BE AWAKENED FOR 
THE GERMAN RACE." 

And that wouldn't do for Mr. Ochs just now. 

CHAPTER XL 

The Horror of Russian Rule. 

Do the publishers of the New York press or any other papers 
in the cause of the Allies, and herewith naturally in the cause of 
Russia, realize what Russia's victory would mean? 
Do Americans realize that it means the embodiment of every- 
thing Americans abhor, the destruction of everything Ameri- 
cans and western Europeans, true to their ideals, hold sacred? 

It means the trampling down of religious liberty, the reign 
of darkest spiritual tyranny; it means the crushing of free 
thought, of free intellectual intercourse, of personal liberty; it 
means the omnipotence of stupid and cruel police organization, 
which may throw one into prison and transport one to Siberia 
on a mere suspicion without even the formality of a trial — nay, 
without even taking the trouble of letting one know why one is 
collared. 

The farce of a drama existing on sufferance does not miti- 
gate that state of things. The heroes of Russian thought, whom 
the writer admires as much as anyone can, are powerless against 
it. They represent what Russia may or may not grow into in 
a century or so. As a matter of fact, Russian rule means a hor- 
ror of darkness Jiardly conceivable in our century. 

The extension of that rule over civilized countries is Russia's 
object in the present war, and the support given to her by Eng- 
land and France is called by these powers a ' ' struggle for civil- 
ization." Bah. . . . 



124 N E U T E A L I T Y 

Blinded by our own natural sympathy for a land of common 
tongue, we forget in America who the real victors would be were 
the Allies to win the struggle. It would not be England, 
though she might increase for a time her colonial possessions at 
Germany's expense. 

It would not be France, for even if she regains her lost prov- 
inces she will find them no more an integral part of her life. 
The real victor will not be the patient Russian peasant, but the 
narrow, bigoted Asiatic oligarchy which in triump will trample 
upon every aspiration and every attempt to free Russia from 
her yoke. 

We are told by the American press that all will change if 
Russia wins. Did Russia change after the Crimea? Did the 
oligarchy change after the Turkish war? Did the oligarchy 
change after the Japanese war? No one wants to crush the 
Russian people who have given us Tolstoy and Verestchagin. 
But Russia's victory would mean darkest tyranny! It is per- 
fectly disgusting. . . . 

They fed us, these philanthropic " neutral" American news- 
papers, with stories of "poor little Belgium" until our bellies 
ached ; but of poor little Poland, of poor little Prussia, of poor 
little jews who were hung — not shot — in the forests of Lemberg, 
in the forests of Lodz by those merciless cossacks, and whose poor 
little bodies were dangling by the hundreds from the snow-cov- 
ered branches of the trees, these "human" American neutral 
papers had nothing to say. 

Does the average American know of any relief commission 
for the ' ' poor little Prussians ? ' ' No, he does not ; neither does 
the writer. 

Yet, the misery, the pain, the suffering, the famine in food, 
clothes and other necessities of life is much larger, a hundred- 
fold more appalling in Galicia and all other Polish provinces 
ruined by the Russian armies than in "poor little Belgium!" 

About the time those horrible deeds occurred there was in 
one of the Sunday newspapers a halftone picture taken from a 
group of Galician peasant women assembled about a wooden 
shack, waiting patiently for a dole of black bread and salt. 
They were barefooted and some of them had beastlike faces, 
torn with suffering grief. 

We fear our American women would be barefooted and show 
beastlike faces if ever our homes were ravaged by Russian Cos- 
sacks, or by their Japanese allies. In the same paper Lloyd 



NETJTKALITY? 125 

George was boasting that Britain would win the war, not by the 
valor of British arms, but by starving women sucli as these. 

These ragged Galician peasant women knew that an Austro- 
German regiment had captured on that spot, from the Kussians, 
boxes of ammunition ' ' Made in America. ' ' They knew who had 
sold these arms to the Russians via Archangel. Oh, it is known 
by this time over the world. They had come from Britain 's am- 
munition agent, the death-peddling Schwab and his partner, the 
"great American citizen," Morgan, who thereby was earning 
his 2 per cent. . . . 

But these ragged, wretched Galician peasant women were 
also wives and mothers. They also had seen their sons and hus- 
bands stricken down. Think of this picture, American mothers, 
wives and girls, when you're getting up your benefit entertain- 
ments for the Allies. 

Please don't misunderstand the writer of these lines. He 
doesn't begrudge the millions Americans sent to the Belgians in 
food, clothes and money, etc., but he thinks occasionally of that 
"poor little Pole," of that "poor little Galician," of that "poor 
little East Prussian" man, woman or child who suffers, who 
fights the pains of hunger and cold, though they are sufferers 
not on their own fault, while the Belgians brought their misery 
upon themselves, through their own fault aiid conduct. 

Yes, through their own fault ! 

CHAPTER XLI 
"Poor Little Belgium." 

All the cant of the English and the "Al-lies" press in New 
York is mere hypocrisy, sham and humbug. Didn't Sir Earl 
Grey himself, who justly earned and deserves the title of "the 
greatest criminal of the age," declare and admit in answer to 
the German Chancellor's latest explanation of the "Scraps of 
Paper," that England did not go to war merely and only on 
account of tJie violation of Belgium's neutrality, and the London 
Times editorially sustained Grey's contention, reiterating his 
statement in its issue of May 12, 1915. Most of us knew that 
long ago ! 

Everybody seems to know that in Europe, from the schoolboy 
to the historian. It is only here in America that there still 
exists doubt about it. The ' ' Al-lies ' ' papers don 't want to know, 
and if they do they prefer to lie about it. 



126 NEUTRALITY 

As G. Bernard Shaw states it: "No unofficial Englishman 
worth his salt wanted to snivel hypocritically about our love of 
peace and our respect for treaties and our solemn acceptance of 
a painful duty and all the rest of the nauseous mixture of 
schoolmaster's twaddle, parish magazine cant and cinematograph 
melodrama with which we were deluged. 

' ' Those who insist that neutrality , is real and sacred are 
committed by the facts to the following proposition : 

"1. Germany has not violated Belgian neutrality. She has 
made war on Belgium, which her guaranty of Belgium's neu- 
trality has in no way abrogated her right to do; and her guar- 
anty of Belgium's neutrality still stands in spite of the war 
and actually entitles her to treat the violation of it by another 
power as a casus belli. 

"2. France and England have violated the 'neutrality of 
Belgium by invading Tier and fighting on her soil, though they 
do not war upon her. 

"3. Germany offered to keep the peace with Belgium on 
condition of that right of way which Great Britain was the 
first to demand and enforce by war in China. 

"4. Great Britain and France would not guarantee Bel- 
gium's neutrality, except on a condition which they knew would 
not be fulfilled, and which in any case Belgium could not con- 
trol, namely, that Germany would keep peace with Belgium. 

"5. Germany offered peace in Belgium. 
6. Great Britain offered war peremptorily. 
I defy any international jurist to put a credible complexion 
on these propositions except by showing that they were the 
reductio ad absurdum of the theory of neutrality and by admit- 
ting that Belgium might as well have been a free country as a 
neutralized one for all the use that the guaranty proved. And 
it is because I am not duped by that theory that I have set my- 
self to discredit the Belgian pretext for war and to induce our 
ministers and newspapers to drop it. . . . 

"Many take the standpoint, especially in neutral countries, 
that England hesitated until the last moment before going into 
the war, and that the violation of Belgium's neutrality was the 
last drop which caused the goblet to overflow. This theory has 
since been exploded by a report from the Belgium Minister in 
St. Petersburg, M. de l'Escaille, to his government, dated July 
30, 1914, which has been found in Brussels. 

"This document states that the assurance of English support 
gave the war-party in Russia the majority. This was five days 



i .- 




DR. VON BETHMAN-HOLLWEG. 



NEUTRALITY 127 

before Germany had violated Belgian neutrality and while the 
German ambassador was still discussing the question of Belgian 
neutrality with Sir Edward Grey. How is this evidence of M. 
de l'Escaille's report to be squared with the pretension of Sir 
Edward Grey in the English Blue Book, that to the last he 
never undertook any obligation to Russia to assist her against 
Germany? The answer is very simple. 

"It is quite true that a formal treaty did not exist between 
England and Russia, any more than between England and 
Prance, notwithstanding the leading men in St. Petersburg as 
well as in Paris were assured that England in case of war would 
be on their side. Grey's fault is not tliat he gave them a prom- 
ise of help, but that he failed to declare that England would not 
be on their side. That, and that alone, would have conserved the 
peace. ' ' 

There we are. This is from one of England's own and most 
famous writers. Does anyone want any better witness than 
George Bernard Shaw to sustain the English view ? 

Among the documents found in Brussels by the victorious 
German troops was not only the tell-tale military convention be- 
tween representatives of Great Britain and Belgium by which 
Belgium bartered away her neutrality, but the complete reports 
made by Count de Lalaing, Belgian minister to London ; Baron 
Greindl, Belgian minister to Berlin, and M. A. Leghait, Belgian 
minister to Paris, the series running from February 7, 1905, to 
April 26, 1912, after which the reports are rendered by Baron 
Beyens at Berlin and Baron Guillaume at Paris, concluding July 
2, 1915. 

These papers contain the complete history of every impor- 
tant diplomatic move made at the three principal capitals as re- 
corded by trained observers reporting ronfidentially to their gov- 
ernment. 

Equally interesting is the truthful G. Bernard Shaw in an- 
other article, written in answer to a communication from a Miss 
"Winstanley to one of the London dailies : "It must certainly be 
a great comfort to Miss Winstanley," writes Mr. Shaw, "that 
we're at last making some amends by shedding our blood like 
water to make Russia the most formidable military autocracy in 
Europe; but she will remind me now that for centuries after 
the Hun peril passed away, Austria and Hungary stood between 
us and oriental savagery. 

1 ' Think of what we owe to Sobieski, without whose valor we 
should all now be Christian slaves, tugging painfully at the oars 



128 NEUTEALITY 

in the galleys of Tripoli and Algiers! Yet we're actually mak- 
ing war on Hungary! Truly, we're a hopeless people flying 
from one ingratitude to another. And the Germans ! All those 
brave Hessians, who won so many laurels for English captains 
from Marlborough to Burgoyne. Where would the Protestant 
religion be without Martin Luther? Oh shame! Oh England, 
where is thy blush ? ' ' 

CHAPTER XLII 
The Cause of the War. 

Hillaire Belloc, another of England's most prominent 
writers, a critic of great might and independence, whose polit- 
ical and economic opinions are widely quoted, says: "The 
struggle is primarily and essentially a struggle between two con- 
flicting theories of life and government, which have the conti- 
nent of Europe for their theatre, and of which the Prussians 
upon the one hand and the French upon the other are the pro- 
tagonists and have been the protagonists for now more than 
three generations. ' ' 

That, as one perceives, does away with the "Al-lies" press' 
sanctimonious theory that England went to war on account of 
Germany's violation of Belgium's neutrality. Hillaire Belloc 
has recently pointed out again and again that the real cause of 
England's participation in the present war is "her determina- 
tion that she shall never have a rival across the Narrow Seas. ' ' 

Belloc says when France expanded to a great and powerful 
empire, England ceaselessly intrigued, leagued and fought till 
France was ruined, not for the liberty of Europe, but that there 
might be n.o powerful rival across the Narrow Seas, with Ant- 
werp as its port. 

Even with Antwerp out of the question, England would 
brook no powerful rival across the Narrow Seas, so France was 
crushed. Even with the Narrow Seas out of the question, Eng- 
land would brook no rival anywhere, so at various times Spain 
has been ruined by piracy and the maritime prosperity of the 
United States destroyed by treachery. 

Hillaire Belloc is also hailed asa" great militarist and fore- 
most expert on warfare." The writer doubts very much that 
he's all that. Everything he forecasted proved a fiasco for the 
Allies and he is only one of the many English and American 
so-dubbed "military experts" or superman whose precious wis- 



NEUTRALITY 129 

dom has enabled the English to execute sueh masterly retreats. 
A month after the war he declared that Germany was with- 
out cotton and consequently would be compelled to surrender 
within six weeks. It seems that without cotton Germany could 
not win, for cotton is an essential ingredient to the manufacture 
of gun powder. A year has passed since Belloc laid down the 
law, and everywhere the Germans are victorious. Furthermore, 
they have more powder and shells than all the Allies combined. 

"What about the ' indispensable' cotton? How could Ger- 
many get along without such an absolute necessity ? ' ' But that 
is a state secret. Perhaps the Germans shaved off the beards 
of their Russian prisoners and thus foiled Hillaire. If that is 
their method there can be no end to the supply. 

In one of his recent military articles he consoles his readers 
with the statement that ' ' there is indefinite space through which 
the Russians can retire. ' ' Well, one is sure they are welcome to 
their "indefinite" space. Nobody wants to deprive them of it, 
not even the heroic Gen. Von Hindenburg. ' ' Old Top ' ' Hillaire 
has really caused the world some hilarity. 

Frank Harris, the well-known and famous English writer, 
in his book on "Searchlights of the War," says: "To blame 
Germany for the war is mere hypocrisy — sorrowful cant ! Ger- 
many did not want tlie war! Germany is the leader of civiliza- 
tion. In the last twenty years Germany has done more for civil- 
ization and humanity than any other nation on earth." And 
continuing, — paying as he says, "well-deserved tribute to her 
great achievements," he also remarks: "Every day the New 
York papers say the Allies have won 62 yards, 3 feet and 7 
inches. Then on Sunday comes the news that the Germans have 
regained all that and more! German Militarism! Pooh! 
They're only more efficient; that's all!" . . . 

In a letter which appeared in Mr. Cecil Chesterton's maga- 
zine, called "The New Witness," on Oct. 1, 1914, a former mem- 
ber of the British parliament, Mr. F. Hugh 'Donnell, who for 
many years was foreign editor of several of the leading English 
periodicals, writes as follows : 

"It is really unnecessary for me to go into the Belgian ques- 
tion at present. England made war on Germany without any 
reference whatever to Belgium. The Belgian affair came later. 
It has been utilized for public consumption. It was a fine pre- 
text! Not only was England to strike at Germany the instant 
that a German fleet appeared in the channel, but France was to 
be thereby liberated from all anxieties which would prevent her 



130 NEUTRALITY 

from attacking Austria in the Mediteranean with the- united 
forces of the French navy. ' ' 

This article is highly interesting as coming from a British 
member of Parliament and having found admission into the 
columns of an English paper. This paper is owned and edited 
by the same Cecil Chesterton who challenged Mr. Sylvester Vie- 
reck, the brilliant editor of The Fatherland to a debate in re: 
The Cause of the War! The debate took place in New York, the 
17th of January, 1915, at the Cort Theatre, and resulted in a 
" total knockout" of Mr. Chesterton. 

CHAPTER XLIII 
Belgians and the Congo. 

One could quote many more English writers and historians, 
the best that England has — and she has few good ones — uphold- 
ing the German view in regard to the cause of the war and in 
regard to the assertions of those "knownothing" editors of the 
American "Al-lies" papers, that England went to war on ac- 
count of "poor little Belgium." 

The testimony of the many great well-known and influential 
English writers and editors ought to have at least as much 
weight and influence in the determination of this vital question 
as the hypocritical assertions of the puny, ignorant and, with 
European political conditions and constellations, wholly unac- 
quainted editors of the American "Al-lies" press. 

Yet our American press, by printing only what partisan, 
prejudiced and inspired London said and desired, by ignoring 
facts and refraining from thought or investigation, has suc- 
ceeded in arousing many of our people to the horror of Ger- 
many's "violation of Belgian neutrality!" They ignore, too, 
the fact that Belgium had forfeited the role of a puny ward of 
the nations. 

Even in 1864 Belgium had sent troops to assist France in 
her attempt to set an emperor on the throne of Mexico — violat- 
ing Mexican neutrality, flouting the Monroe doctrine, defying 
the United States and outraging the cause of liberty. Belgium 
had a great army, great fortifications — directed only against 
Germany — and a great African empire. Belgium was a self- 
reliant state. She decided her own acts — and her own fate. 
That is, her rulers decided. 



NEUTRALITY 131 

A few years ago the English press, pulpit and forum rang 
with charges of monstrous brutality. England was aroused 
against "the most barbarous crimes ever committed," so Eng- 
land said. The American press then, as now, echoed the charges, 
and American literary men wrote books to prove the English 
point. And who were the objects of this campaign of denuncia- 
tion ? The Belgian people ! 

And why? Because the Belgian King owned the great rub- 
ber forests of the Congo, which had suddenly vastly increased in 
value through the multiplication of automobiles ; and it pleased 
England to discover dreadful atrocities committed by Belgians 
in the Congo. Chief of these atrocities was the cutting off of 
hands; there were numerous photographs to prove it, though, 
strangely enough, in this day, when the charge has been trans- 
ferred to the Germans, England has failed to produce a single 
photograph of a Belgian with a hand cut off; and didn't the 
very same Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who at present is so strenu- 
ous and venomous in his denunciations of German methods of 
warfare, and who, during the war, with all the might force and 
intellect of his pen and word, champion the Belgian cause, write 
of the very same Belgians,, in 1909 : 

' ' The Belgians have been given their chance. They have had 
nearly twenty-five years of undisturbed possession, and they 
have made the Congo a hell upon earth. They cannot disasso- 
ciate themselves from this work or pretend that it was done by a 
separate state. It was done by a Belgian King, Belgian soldiers, 
Belgian financiers, Belgian lawyers, Belgian capital, and was en- 
dorsed and defended by Belgian Governments. It is out of the 
question that Belgium should remain on the Congo." 

Are the Belgians of 1914 any better or any different, any 
more human than they were in 1909 ? 

It is an incontrovertible fact that the war is due to the 
jealousy of England of Germany's growing naval, commercial 
and industrial power, her great commercial, industrial and eco- 
nomical growth in the last forty years, and it must be stated 
here, with a.11 the emphasis and sincerity words can convey, that 
the fault is all England's and only England's. Because, while 
she didn 't start the trouble, she knew it was going to be started 
and she didn 't try to stop it. 

Two words from Earl Grey cabled to Russia — yes, two words 
only: "Stop Mobilization," would have averted the wa.r. But 
England did want war. She got it; she got it where "the 
chicken got the axe," and there's more coming. She didn't care 



132 NEUTRALITY 

any more about poor little Belgium, than one cares about the 
Chinese coolie working on the docks of Shanghai. She cared a 
lot for her own skin, and sicked Belgium on to fight. 

Belgium fought and lost. She deserved losing, because she 
was false and anything but neutral. She was England's cat's 
paw, an ally, a secret ally, to smash Germany. Had Belgium 
remained neutral in heart and spirit, she'd be there now, un- 
harmed and untarnished. But she conspired with England 
against Germany, as the documents found in the military 
archives of Brussels and Antwerp conclusively and firmly 
prove. 

These documents plainly state that England had the inten- 
tion to invade Belgium — whether Belgium wanted it or not — 
in case of war between Germany and France. These documents 
also prove that the Belgian government made an agreement with 
the hypothetical German invasion. These documents plainly but 
convincingly prove that the Belgian Government was deter- 
mined from the outset to join the enemies of Germany. 

So, where does her neutrality come in ? 

Belgium played the part of a dirty sneak, of a squealer, of a 
false friend, who shakes you by one hand, but is ready to plunge 
the knife into your vitals as soon as you turn your back. She 
got just what was coming to her and her government. Her 
"gallant" king deserves sympathy from no one, no matter how 
much we may sympathize with the millions of unfortunates who 
suffer on account of the duplicity of the Belgian military gov- 
ernment, with their king at the top. 

Her folly, her criminal association with England, saved for 
the time England! 

How does England repay the Belgian nation's self-sacrifice? 

Shaw says: "What have we done for Belgium? Have we 
saved her soil from invasion? Were we at her side with half a 
million men when the avalanche fell on her ? Or were we safe in 
our own country praising her heroism in paragraphs which all 
contrived to convey the idea that the Belgian soldier cried: 
'Where are the English?' 

"The reply was a mass of concrete as large as a big room, 
blown into the air by a German siege gun, falling back and 
crushing him into the earth. We have not succeeded in saving 
Belgians from the worst horrors of war. We have not protected 
Belgium. Belgium has protected us at the cost of being con- 
quered by Germany. 



NEUTRALITY 133 



t i 



I am afraid many of us have a rather complacent impres- 
sion that France and Britain came in a very handsome way to 
the rescue of brave little Belgium, and that it is a noble trait in 
their character that we upheld the Treaty of London (1839) 
these seventy-five years for Belgium's benefit. At the battle of 
Waterloo the British lay down snugly behind the ridge and 
placed the Belgian brigade on the exposed forward slope of it 
to be hammered to pieces by the terrible cannonade and then to 
be cut to ribbons by the charges that afterwards routed the artil- 
lery of our own. . . . 

' ' Sympathy ? Yes, and quantity of sympathy. Compliments 
to her heroism? Yes, dithyrambs galore. Reinforcements? By 
all means; the British and French guns are raining shells on 
Belgian villages and towns as liberally as the Germans — in fact, 
they now boast of having established a superiority in artillery, 
which means that no German can live within range of their 
howitzers and of the famous soixante quinze. 

"Splendid! But no Belgian can live within that range, 
either; and the net result is that there are seven million Bel- 
gians deprived of their means of livelihood in their own country 
(not counting refugees who have left it), who must perish of 
simple starvation, unless a million pounds a month, or five mil- 
lion dollars, or twenty-five million francs, are forthcoming to 
feed them. ' ' 

This is from an English writer's pen, and not a German or 
German- American or Hungarian- American 's say. This indict- 
ment of Belgium comes from one of her best friends and not 
from a foe. All the Ridders of the Staats Zeitung or all the bril- 
liant Vierecks of The Fatherland could not have penned a more 
condemning indictment of England than Shaw conveys to us. 

Germany's most famous writer, with the bitterest hatred in 
his heart for England, couldn't have written a more powerful, a 
truer and more pathetic expose of England's perfidy towards 
the Belgian nation, "The Savior of England." What is Eng- 
land doing for the portion of Belgium which is not in Germany's 
hand or only partially so ? England takes good care to destroy, 
to devastate, to bombard, to burn. 

She is bombarding what remains of the Belgian coast towns, 
and burning wherever and what she can lay her hands upon. 
Were it not for the vigilance of the Germans and sincere desire 
to save for the Belgians what can be saved, Belgium would long 
ago have fallen prey to the vandal destruction of her English 
friends and benefactors. Shame on England — eternal shame! 



CHAPTER XLIV 
Tommy Atkins ¥/ants Bocks. 

Were it not for the great big-hearted generosity of this 
country, what would have become of the millions of starving 
sufferers, homeless and misguided people? Eich England, "the 
richest nation of the earth," with billions of gold sterling sov- 
ereigns hoarded in the mighty vaults of the Bank of England — 
rich England, cames to us with hat in hand, pleading: "Please 
help — help poor little Belgium. We can't do it; really, we can't, 
don't you know. We must look after our own; so please, dear 
Yankee cousins, come along ; give a few millions to these poor lit- 
tle Belgians. Poor because we made them so ! " 

Aye! they even go further in their impudence. They beg 
for their own, "The Prince of Wales Fund!" And to think 
that there are enough idiots among Americans to make contribu- 
tions to the "Prince of Wales Fund," when our own people 
wander around homeless, jobless and hungry! But, of course, 
if you do not contribute to the "Prince of Wales Fund," you 
cannot sit at luncheon with the Queen of England at her pal- 
ace, as her guest, like a certain American lady whose brother 
is publishing a paper in New York. No wonder that that paper - 
is pro-English! There's no miracle in that, is there? 

It is not so very long ago that many Americans received a 
very handsomely engraved card signed by several women of 
the nobility of England with the request to contribute something 
towards a fund with which to buy socks for ' ' Tommy Atkins. ■ ' 
The request was made to appeal to ' ' all patriotic Americans, who 
must make Tommy Atkins ' cause their cause ! ' ' 

Fancy! sane, self-respecting Americans contributing money 
to cover the ' ' tootsie-wootsies ' ' of heroic Tommy Atkins ! ' ' Rich 
England," begging money in America to put socks on their 
soldiers! Why not go barefooted? If the Scotch can die for 
"poor little Belgium" barelegged, why can't Tommy Atkins go 
barefoot to heaven or to the other place? There are no socks 
needed in either place, according to the pictures we have of 
these places. Another beautifully engraved and worded begging 
letter reached the "dear cousins" of America a few weeks ago. 
The beggars were the foremost members of English female aris- 
tocracy. Lady Forbes Robertson is chairman of the committee 
which asked us Americans for contributions to erect and build a 

134 



NEUTRALITY 135 

hospital in England for the wounded and convalescent heroic 
' ' Tommy Atkins. ' ' SOME gall ! 

Oh, yes, these "noble" women of England. It behooves us 
not to speak ill of women generally, no matter what the provoca- 
tion might be, but one can't very well overlook certain facts in 
regard to the activities of some of the English women during 
the course of this war. It is sufficiently deplorable that even 
the most prominent English writers and poets, such as Rudyard 
Kipling, do not hesitate to employ their brilliant talents and 
genius to dip their pens into the venom of hatred and write 
about their German foes as they do right along during these 
strenuous days. 

Among the latest accusations that Kipling hurled upon the 
Germans in his latest contribution to literature was "that Ger- 
mans compel girls to plow in graveyards and steal the wine of 
old women and the patents of inventors," but the vilest and 
most unbelievable accusation that Mr. Kipling makes against 
the German soldiers is that "at the word of command they 
drowned women and children, raped women in the streets, and 
denied the property and persons of their captives." 

1 ' These statements of Rudyard Kipling do him no credit and 
the English cause no good, for he has indulged in extremes of 
statement and in degraded comparisons that are not only un- 
warranted, but will not carry conviction. At a later day, when 
the madness of the hour and undue hatred of England's foes 
have passed from his brain, will he not feel that he debauched 
his splendid intellect in stooping to misrepresent England's 
enemies, ' ' says the Los Angeles Times. 

CHAPTER XLV 
"The Female of the Species." 

The scurrilous, dirty, unwomanly contributions of the Eng- 
lish women about their German sisters are the more unpardon- 
able because everything they wrote is false, libelous and un- 
worthy of them. One might peruse volumes of literature per- 
taining to this war, written by German women of all classes, 
professional writers and others in different callings and voca- 
tions in life, but one has yet to find anything offensive or libel- 
ous about the English women. 

To illustrate the spirit which fills the heart and brain of some 
of the English women, it may not be amiss to give two or three 



136 NEUTRALITY 

samples, but these are sufficiently enlightening, to the effect that 
the feminine world of England is not far behind that male por- 
tion of libelous accusers and vilifiers which fill with rotten 
twaddle and filthy lies the pages of English as well as American 
newspapers and current literature. 

What must one think of this daughter of fair Albion who 
wrote this letter ? : 

"Ring-Bert-Yardley, 
"Birmingham, England, Sept. 28, 1914. 
"My Dear Brother: 

"I am pleased to hear you are in good spirits. 

"I wish I was with you. I would like to be a nurse. I am 
sure I could kill one or two Germans. But good luck from Alice 
and your affectionate sister, 

(Signed) JENNY. 

The letter is addressed to Richard Reading, Esq., Queen's 
Hotel, Antwerp, and forwarded to "Corps Mitrailleuse, 4 Co., 
St. Anne, Antwerp, Belgium. ' ' 

Isn't Jenny adorable? 

The above letter inspired the famous German poet, Gerhart 
Eauptman, author of "The Sunken Bell," to write a, poem 
which, translated by George Sylvester Viereck, the editor of 
"The Fatherland," runs as follows: 

RICHARD READING'S SISTER. 

Lo, Jesus, this man's sister: She 

Is lesser than the beasts that prey. 

Hyena-like, with stealth to slay, 

She '& prowl about a wounded man, 

Under the hood of Charity, ' 

Garbed as a good Samaritan. 

A tearing she-fox, she would creep 

On helpless Germans in their sleep. 

Have mercy on Thy Judgment Day 

Upon this soul's iniquity, 

Lord, for the least, 

The vilest beast 

Bears no such a load of infamy. 

Her name among the damned is Jane. 

Make her an angel without stain. 

In the first days of the war, there was a poor German news 
dealer by the name of Adolph Boehm, living at 275 Fulham 



NEUTRALITY 137 

Road, London, who had several news stands in Kensington dis- 
tricts, counting many in the neighborhood, male and female, 
members of the nobility, among his customers. Shortly after 
the war broke out the poor German news dealer, suspecting 
what was in store for him and for the other Germans residing 
and doing business in London, tried to collect little sums of 
money due to him for newspapers and for articles delivered to 
his noble patrons. Here is one of the letters he received from a 
lady of English " nobility," and this is what she says: 

"Considering my husband lias lost one eye through your 
rotten country, I refuse to pay you a farthing. I am only sorry 
I do not owe you more. Nothing owed you could ever make up 
the misery your countrymen have caused us. 

(Signed) Marion Hope. 

Marion Hope is the wife of Captain Hope and niece of Lord 
Rosebery. Is it thinkable that even the most humble German 
scullery maid would write a letter like this? The English "Mi- 
lady," of course, thought that it was a clever way to repudiate 
a debt and to pay a newspaper bill with the "eye of her hus- 
band." ..." 

The Countess of Warwick, one of the foremost members of 
English aristocracy, is heralded and advertised by the American 
press, and particularly by the Hearst papers to which she is a 
regular society contributor, as a particular authority on good 
costumes, society manners and good breeding. A little while 
ago the Countess of Warwick saw fit to air her views concerning 
the "depravity of German women as a result of the war." 

That was an uncalled-for slur at her sex, biased and false 
as hell. The German women in the fatherland, from the palace 
at Berlin to the lowliest cottage in the most obscure village in 
the Empire, are, first of all, notably virtuous, paragons of vir- 
tue when compared to the polluted degenerates who rub elbows 
with royalty in London. 

Frugal and industrious, scrupulously clean in person and 
morals, modest in the home and prudently discreet in their con- 
duct in public, German women are shining examples of what 
noble womanhood should be; an example for the screeching, 
howling, immodest, maniacal suffragettes of England to pattern 
from. 

The writer knows whereof he speaks, for he has had an op- 
portunity to study German women in their German homes, and 
it is a fact incontrovertible that their industry, modesty, and 



138 NEUTRALITY 

virtue have not deserted them nor suffered by contact with men 
and women of other nationalities in the United States. 

An unprovoked, bitter and palpably false attack by a mem- 
ber of England's proud nobility on German womanhood would 
be ridiculous if it were not so serious, with the little affairs of 
Oscar Wilde, Lady Bollingbrook and the estimable Prince of 
Wales, afterwards King of England, still fresh in our memories. 
Oscar Wilde, the son of an English lord and lady, admitted to 
court circles and hobnobbing with the Prince of Wales, while 
his effeminate degeneracy was contaminating an already denied 
atmosphere, was no worse than his noble associates in London. 

And who is this that attacks the characters of German 
women? The wife of a, descendant of Robert Rich, the first 
Earl of Warwick, who was the sword-bearer for Cromwell, the 
bloody, bigoted butcher of infamous memory, whose soldiers 
tortured and murdered maidens and matrons because they could 
not destroy the virtue of the women of Erin. A proud record, 
truly, and one worth recalling by the Countess of Warwick. 



CHAPTER XLVI 

Edith Oavell. 

The sad case of another Englishwoman — that of the nurse, 
Edith Cavell — created quite an excitement in America. The 
English press left no stone unturned to arouse American sym- 
pathy and passion for their "heroine. " America was indescrib- 
ably shocked and horrified to learn that the barbarous Germans 
shot a woman, because she happened to be a spy. Sympathizers 
with the case forgot that the spy is the most dangerous foe an 
army can deal with. They forgot, or they did not know, that it 
is a long-recognized rule of warfare that when caught the spy — 
male or female — must be executed. American "Al-lies" editors 
forgot that Nathan Hale, the American patriot, was hanged by 
the English for a similar crime. American "AL-lies" editors 
forgot the Mary Surratt case of civil-war fame, and that on her 
account our own hands are not very clean either. American 
"Al-lies" newspapers forgot, or didn't know, or didn't want 
to know, or tell of the execution of the two German women — 
for similar crimes — by the "gallant and chivalrous" French in 
Nancy and Bourge, early in March of this year. When the 
French authorities executed Ottilie Moss and Margarete 
Schmidt, the two German women, they forgot to notify the 



NEUTRALITY 



139 



"Al-lies" press of America of their "noble" conduct of war- 
fare, and if they did this very same press didn't seem to be a 
bit shocked. The indignant, shocked, horrified editors of the 
"Al-lies" press of America, those great worshipers and pro- 
tectors of "woman," led by the chivalrous, virtuous knight of 
Herald Square, New York, and Avenue de l'Opera, Paris, did 
not know, or if they did know, "forgot" to inform their readers 
of the execution of a Mrs. Julia Van Warterghen in Antwerp 
on Aug. 18, 1914, by the Belgian authorities ! What made this 
execution more shocking and horrid, more inhuman and bestial, 
is the fact that Mrs. Warterghen at the time of her execution 
was about to become a mother. 

But when the Germans do 
the same thing, that is a 
"horse of another color." 
Frenchmen or Belgians kill- 
ing women spies are ' ' gallant, 
chivalrous gentlemen. ' ' Ger- 
mans killing one self-con- 
fessed, dangerous spy mas- 
querading in tlie virtues garb 
of a Samaritan are "barbar- 
ians" and beyond the pale of 
civilization! What damnable- 
cant ! What damnable hypoc- 
risy! What degree of official- 
ity in the art of killing women 
and children, within the 
countries with which England 
is at war has attained and 
what national genii the Eng- 
lish are when it comes to 
executing women let the 

monument erected at Bloemfontain and unveiled Dec. 16, 1913, 
speak for itself. The monument bears the inscription : 




..jicricUia 



A REMINDER TO THE WORLD. 




Erected by the Boers in South Africa 

In Memory of 

26,663 WOMEN AND CHILDREN 

Who died in the concentration camps during the war 

1900-1902. 



140 



NEUTEALITY 



H ■■ "• • • 

HHhK'. 






'.';.■;:';'.'■'■' - ' ''..'";:.. ""'' ; fv:" : ,■..,..':,,.■::;; 



^«w ; ar 










..■■■■->■ ..;• ;. 

■;-■-?■%:'■■■■:■,.'-'■■. . J.x^i^w* 

'■' ■ ■ ■ ■■■■■ ... 




NATIONAL MONUMENT ERECTED AT BLOEMFONTEIN BY THE BOERS 
IN SOUTH AFRICA IN MEMORY OF 26,663 WOMEN AND CHILDREN 
VICTIMS OF ENGLISH BRUTALITY. 



NEUTEALITY 141 

The "Al-lies" press conveniently overlooked, in the Cavell 
case, that her execution was — as all such executions are — a ne- 
cessity of war. The regulations of the United States Federal 
armies dwell explicitly on this point. On April 24, 1863, 
among General Orders, Number 100, is the following ruling: 
' ! Section 102. The law of war, like the criminal law regulating 
other offenses, recognizes no difference on account of the sex of 
the culprit, concerning the spy, the war traitor, or the war 
rebel." 

No discrimination was shown Mrs. Surratt on account of her 
sex. She was hanged by order of the Government. It was in 
her house Wilkes Booth and the other conspirators planned the 
assassination of President Lincoln. Mary Surratt was a "lady" 
of southern birth. 

She was found guilty by a military commission composed 
of the following American gentlemen and officers : Gens. Hun- 
ter, Ekin, Kautz, Foster, Home, Lew Wallace, Harris ; Col. Clen- 
denin, Col. Tompkins, Col. Burnett, Gen. Holt, and Judge 
Advocate Bingham, of receiving, harboring, concealing, and 
assisting rebels, sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead, 
sentence approved by President Johnson. 

The following are a few of the opinions of the press, prob- 
ably the ' ' Al-lies ' ' press of the day : 

"The execution of Mary Surratt is the foulest blot on the 
history of the U.S. A.' ' 

"It was a violation of the most sacred provisions of that 
constitution whose enforcement was the vaunted purpose of the 
war. ■ ' 

"The annals of modern times will be searched in vain to 
find a parallel. ' ' 

"Not a single redeeming feature relieves the deep damna- 
tion of her taking off." 

"It was illegal, unjust, unhumane, unholy; it was mean; it 
was all of these in the highest and lowest degrees." 

"It resembled the acts of savages and not of men." 

When the "gallant, chivalrous" French or Belgian Allies 
killed those German women, wouldn't the above quoted expres- 
sions of our press have been in order? Why weren't these 
printed? Why didn't our sanctimonious Ambassador, Brand 
Whitlock, jump into the limelight of publicity then, and why 
didn't he give us a lachrymose account of the affaires as he did 
in the Cavell case. Why? 



142 NEUTRALITY 

Our "Al-lies" press had nothing to say when German women 
were killed, but the execution of the Cavell woman received the 
widest publicity. Why? Because: 

England controls the cables and news channels, and has a 
censor who carefully suppresses all news of the shooting of Ger- 
man spies in the Tower, or in France, giving neither their names 
nor sex, but simply recording the accomplished fact. Nothing 
is allowed to reach the outside world regarding the infamous 
treatment of German women and children in London or Paris, 
hounded like wild animals and driven to the brink of starva- 
tion while husbands and fathers are being slowly tortured to 
death in English, French or Russian concentration camps. 

The Times and papers of its ilk have no space to record the 
killing and torturing of German women by the "gallant Allies " 
or the persecution of the Jews in Russia, but they have columns 
for Armenian atrocities and pages devoted to the execution of 
a legal death sentence in the case of an English woman. 

The fact is deplorable, but it is not half as deplorable as the 
atrocities committed on German women and children in the 
streets of London. Let us quote Mr. Adolph Brougier — a 
Frenchman — on this subject: 

"The condition of German women and children in London 
is frightful beyond description. Nobody will employ them, and 
necessity has driven them to street beggary. And nearly all of 
them are respectable and refined people who never dreamed of 
being placed in such a frightful position. 

' ' The condition of the German women and children is simply 
pitiable. I don't know wha.t is to become of them. The hatred 
of the English is so great that the nation has become perfectly 
callous toward these miserable wretches. Even educated Eng- 
lishmen admit this. The violence of the lower classes, when- 
ever the condition of these unfortunate women and children is 
mentioned, is simply indescribable." 

Aren't these unfortunate German women and children just 
as deserving of America's charity as the wretched poor women 
or children of "poor little Belgium?" Did we send any money, 
any clothes, any food, any socks or anything else to these un- 
fortunate German and Austro-Hungarian women and children 
who, reduced to pitiable poverty and starvation, wander around 
in the streets of London begging for food — begging for the bar- 
est necessities of life? 

We did not! And the hungry German woman and child in 
the streets of London, Paris, or in the devastated Prussian and 



NEUTRALITY 143 

Polish villages were in as much need of our succor as those un- 
fortunate Belgians. But which of the two are nearer to us? 
Which of these two nations ought to appeal more to us and de- 
serve* more our sympathies ? Belgium, the friend of England — 
"our eternal foe" — or Prussia, our old, dear and tried friend 
and ally? The history of the United States bears out this con- 
tention. . . . 

Is there one single incident in the history of our nation be- 
fore the outbreak of this war when there ever was even a mis- 
understanding, far less a quarrel, or broken relations between 
Germany and ourselves? Never! Germany has always been 
Uncle Sam's friend. In fact, Germany was the first friend this 
nation ever had since it became a nation. And once a friend, 
always remained a friend. Frederick the Great, then King of 
Prussia, who alone recognized the United States of America as 
entitled to a place in the family of independent nations; and 
the first treaty of Commerce entered into by this country was 
with Prussia.. The Prussians were the first ones who thought 
Uncle Sam good enough, honest enough, straight enough, square 
enough to do business with. 

This act constituted the treaty of 1828, which is at present 
so much discussed in our diplomacy in the cases of the Frey 
and Falaba. The grateful acknowledgment of this treaty, which 
is preserved among the state papers in Washington as "a treaty 
memorable in the history of the world and precious as a monu- 
ment of the principles with which our country entered upon 
her career as a member of the great family of independent na- 
tions/' was made by President John Quincy Adanns in a mes- 
sage to Congress, dated March 15, 1828, and no time seems so 
fitting as this to present it to the American people as a reminder 
that the founders of this country were able to obtain, as Presi- 
dent Adams says, ' ' the sanction of but one great and philosophi- 
cal though absolute sovereign in Europe to their liberal and 
enlightened principles." They could obtain no more as a re- 
minder that they owe some respect, some gratitude and some 
little tribute of sentimental friendship to that German State 
which was the first to admit their country to "the great family 
of independent nations." That German State was Prussia! 
AND WHAT FREDERICK THE GREAT, THEN KING OF 
PRUSSIA, WAS TO UNCLE SAM IS WILLIAM II, THE 
PRESENT KING OF PRUSSIA, TO UNCLE SAM IN 1916! 



CHAPTER XLVII 
The American Janus. 

What does "NEUTRALITY" mean? 

It means: "Refraining from interference in a contest. 
Friendly to each of two belligerents, or at least not taking the 
part of either. A state or nation that refrains from aiding or 
interfering between the belligerent parties in a war." 

Has the United States and its press — with its noble excep- 
tions — acted in this spirit ? It has not ! When we sell war ma- 
terial to any of the belligerents, we are aiding and abetting 
and sustaining his bloody programme. What we get out of it 
is blood money. Our mission should be to help to preserve, to 
bring peace. 

Prejudice has blinded many of our journalists and -perverted 
their otherwise good judgment. It is a perversion to say that 
a refusal to sell munitions of war to England "helps Germany." 
It is our duty to be neutral, and acts of omission or refusal to 
supply war material is conducive to pure neutrality. 

To be really neutral, we must act upon the situation as it 
exists at the time of our action. We know that we can supply 
the Allies only and that our materials (for the prosecution and 
lengthening of this war) cannot be delivered to Germany or 
Austria. Knowing this, we violate with our eyes open and we 
deliberately join in an alliance against one side. It is a griev- 
ous error and one which may have terrible consequences. To 
cover up the results of a mistaken tariff policy which has brought 
disaster and distress we are willing to accept blood money for 
war material where we should be strictly neutral. 

Granted that international law permits neutrals to furnish 
munitions and funds to belligerent nations, is international law 
acknowledged to be perfect and the ultimate standard for the 
conduct of nations? Did we not operate under a higher law 
at the "Boston tea party" and in our fight for Cuba's free- 
dom? If there ever was a time to rise above precedent, be just, 
magnanimous and humanity's friend — it is now. 

For the sake of sordid dollars our country is accessory to 
tlie most destructive, merciless war of the ages, a war not of 
defense, for honor or humanity, but of national ambition and 
greed, in which property, art, architecture, civilization, men, 
women, children, and, it would seem, the very hope of heaven, 

144 



NEUTRALITY 



GERMANY HAY 
NOT INJURE AMERICAN 
SH1PS.N0R INTERFERE 

V/ITH AMERICAN! 
COMMERCE. 



GERMANY 
MAY NOT KILL 

AMERICANS 
WITH IMPUNITY 



THE UNITEO STATES 
WILL MAINTAIN THE 
RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES 
OF AMERICANS TO 
TRAVEL ON SHtPS 
OWNED BY GREAT 6RITM 




ENGLAND -MAY 
TAKE POSSESSION 
OP AMERICAN SHIPS 
AND CONFISCATE 
/.MER1CAN GOODS 




MEXICO 
MAY SlAY 
AMERICANS 
WITH UMPUNiTY. 



ANY LOAN TO „ 
GERMANY OR. TO 
AU STRIA* WOUL.D 
BE INCONSISTENT 
WITH THE SPIRIT 
OP NEUTRALITY.", 



THE UNITED STATES 
WILE NOT MAINTAIN- 
THE RIOHTS .ANt> 
PRIVILEGES OP 
AMERICANS WHO> 
TRAVEL PR tiWE 
M MEXICO., . 



THE BEST PRACTISE 
OF NATIONS IN THE 
MATTER OF NEUTRALITY 
IS TO PROHIBIT THE 
SHIPMENT OF ARMS 
TO THE FIGHTING 
FORCES IN MEXICO 



ANY &AH TO 
ENGLAND ^OULD 
KtfTBEJKCOa&fSTEHT 
Y/iTHKH!* SRRIT 
OF NElffRAUtt. 



THE BEST PRACTISE ^ 
OF NATIONS IN THE^ 
MATTER OF NEUTRALITY 
IS TO PERMIT AND 
ENCOURAGE. THE SHIP- 
MENT OP ARMS. TO 
THE FITTING FORCES 
. OF EUROPE^ 



WE PRAY TO 
GOD TO 
RESTORE 
PEAC£. 



WE j>o oufc- 
W0RS7 TO 
PROLONG 
YH£ WAR . 



£ 



— Hearst's American. 



JANUS OF DEMOCRACY. 



146 NEUTRALITY 

are ruthlessly sacrificed to bloody Mars. Judas paid dearly 
for those thirty pieces of silver and these will be the dearest 
millions Americans ever gathered for their vaults. 

The law of retribution has not been suspended. It is still 
operative throughout the whole world. Those who sow the wind 
will reap the whirlwind. The Civil War took full measure, 
shaken down, running over with tears and blood from this na- 
tion for the practice, and for toleration of the practice, of black 
slavery in this land; and we are again being weighed in the 
balance, and full justice will be meted out. Neither an individ- 
ual nor a nation can do wrong and get away with it. Retribu- 
tion comes even to the third and fourth generation. It is com- 
ing even now in the loss of a measure of self-respect, in the 
fact that as a result of the furnishing of munitions and making 
this huge loan our national sentiment, like our Liberty Bell, is 
cracked. 

Is this the spirit and meaning of "Neutrality?" If it is, it 
certainly bears the face of "Janus," which is double-faced. Not 
only that, the press, and through the press a large portion of 
the misguided, ill-advised American people, has taken side with 
the allies, displaying the rankest partisanship and making itself 
guilty of the grossest ingratitude toward a nation to which we 
owe more than to all the other nations combined. Taking part 
of the English, of the Russians, of the Serb, against the Ger- 
mans ! Shame and disgrace upon us ! 

What have the Germans done to this country that she should 
stand now in the midst of this country's storm of abuse and 
hatred? What has she done to align the hatred, the condemna- 
tion of the press ? Looking back upon the forty-four years that 
Germany has lived, it cannot be said that in this period she 
essentially enlarged her possessions, nor can it be said that she 
has been a particularly bad sinner. 

The crime was that this German Empire worked while others 
celebrated; that she grew stronger; that she achieved things 
that others had been unable to achieve. Without a certain 
diplomacy the affairs of great nations cannot be run. But there 
is a limit. When hypocrisy is not consistent with the interests 
of the country it becomes a crime. 

One could understand that with the rapid growth of Ger- 
many a certain discontent could result in England, but what 
concern is that of ours? "Let George do it!" Let England 
war against such competition, but let her do it by moderately 
decent means. What is "Hecuba" to us? 



NEUTRALITY 147 

Take business: One does not surround and isolate the com- 
petitor, cut his telephone and brand him before the world as 
a criminal. But that is what they did to her. They cut her 
cable and then they said: "Don't you know that those scoun- 
drels are already bankrupt, the Berlin castle is burning, the 
Kaiser has fled, he will settle in Canada, etc., etc.?" 

Then came the atrocities upon atrocities 1 , and when we hear 
how everywhere efforts were made to slander the Germans as a 
common, very inferior race, it is indeed difficult to keep her 
from hating England. But Germans do not bark; they fight. 
And if they could or would not fight hard, no talk, no docu- 
ments would help them. When the final account is drawn up 
nobody asks who started the war, but who won the war! 

Win they will because win they must. Germany owes it to 
her soldiers on land who are doing such wonderful, such un- 
heard of, such undreamed of acts of bravery, heroism and self- 
sacrifice, and to those on the water, to those brave and gallant 
marine boys and heroes of her ships, who are burning to give 
their lives for their Fatherland. To them she owes much of 
her confidence. Germany's fleet is England's worry, and this 
worry will not die until England dies — or at least ceases to rule 
the waves and the old song "Britannia Rules the Waves" be- 
comes obsolete and a myth. 

Yes, Germany will win — no matter how many more will join 
the hordes of the Allies — and in spite of all the wishes of the 
' ' Al-lies ' ' press to the contrary ! . . . 

CHAPTER XLVIII 
Look Who's Here! 



i i 



The Allies! "Carrying civilization to the Rhine!" It is 
to laugh ! That 's a fine brand of civilization, isn 't it, dear editors, 
that that Cossack, Fiji or Sikh has undertaken to carry to the 
Rhein*? You're good judges of civilization — it's your business, 
it 's your calling to teach, to instruct, to elevate, to uplift human- 
ity, to rescue it from the dark ages of stupidity, of bigotry, of 
savagery — it's your cabling to spread civilization, to improve 
mankind ! 

It makes one shriek with laughter to hear our Joseph Choate, 
our former ambassador to England, say at the Pilgrims' dinner 
to the visiting foreign delegates who came to rob us of our 
money : * ' And when I see men fighting for liberty, justice and 



148 



NEUTEALITY 



civilization, my heart is there. When I see nations resorting 
to dubious courses and brutality, my heart is against them. This 
is a contest between liberty and slavery, between law and order 
and militarism seeking to dominate all Europe. We welcome 




'The Allies Carrying Civiliza- 
tion to the Rhine." 



THE BRITISH BRAND OF 
CIVILIZATION. 

My name is Tommy Atkins 

And I'm a husky chap, 
My Comrade is a Cossack 

And my partner is a Jap. 

We're going with some Gurkas 
And likewise with some Sikhs, 

Some black Algerian Turcos, 
And other colored freaks. 

And with all the bloomin' virtues 
For which you know we shine. 

We are carrying CIVILIZATION 
To the people on the Rhine. 



these gentlemen who have come to do us a very great service.' ' 
Ha ! ha ! ' ' To do us a very great service ' ' by taking our hard- 
earned dollars from us. Here are the friends of Mr. Choate! 
Look at this picture ! Is this the civilization, is this the kind of 
culture he means when he's hollering "Hooray, for the Allies!" 
There isn't a decent fellow in the whole bunch outside of the 
"Poilu," the brave French soldier, and even he looks ajshamed 
to be found in this company. Poor France! Jiow site wishes she 
were out of it. She knows that by tradition, by honor, by his- 
tory, by valor and prestige, she does not fit in this picture. 

"Come, help us, Uncle Sam," bellows the big brutish Eng- 
lish bulldog. "We're only 32 of us!" Count them! English- 
French, Russian, Japanese, Servians, Italians, Montenegrins, 
Portuguese, Turcomans, Inamites, Yakuts, GTonds, Bengalese, 
Belgians, Cossacks, Scotch. Fijis, Welshmen, Zulus, Canadians, 
Burmese, Australians, Rajputs, Sikhs, Kypheri, Tartars, Ushegs, 
Kalmaks, Kerghis, Baludii, Basutas, and last but not least, some 
foolish, misguided Irish! Yes, 32 of them, representing all col- 
ors of the rainbow, fighting to down, to crush German civiliza- 
tion and culture ! Can they do it ? No ! A thousand times no, 
because it isn't in them!! 



NEUTRALITY 149 

It's bad enough that that bunch of cutthroats has recently 
been augmented by the sons of beautiful, artistic Italy ; it's 
sad enough that because the gold of England purchased a. bank- 
rupt poet and a pack of greedy newspapers thousands of Pietros 
and Enricos are staring with sightless eyes from the^ sun- 
bleached slopes of the Tyrolese Alps, but the saddest thing to 
contemplate is to see the brave "Poilu" of glorious France the 
heroic sons of the "Grand Nation," fighting alongside their 
eternal foe and archenemy, England, instead of against them, 
which should be really their proper and historical place. 

Aleister Crowley, the famous English writer, states: "No- 
body can understand the mystery of Prance's participation in 
this unholy alliance with England and Eussia. One motive is 
the recovery of that lost glory, and of that supreme position m 
Europe. The other consideration has to do with the vast sums 
transmitted from Paris banking houses to Petrograd, Moscow 
and Odessa. 

"When Russia leads the war to Armageddon, France must 
follow. Hesitation would entail the cancellation of the enor- 
mous indebtedness, a flat repudiation. A stroke of the- auto- 
cratic pen in Petrograd can bring the French to bankruptcy, 
and well they know on which side their bread is buttered. I 
for my part feel but the deepest sympathy for her, because I 
love her, and it makes me sad to think what a fall she has had 
since those splendid days under Richelieu and Louis XIV. 

"It seems but yesterday when she dictated policies to every 
chancellory! No merely earthly splendor seems at all compar- 
able with hers from the age of Mazarin to that of the French 
Revolution. Then comes the Napoleonic glory, and we have 
Talleyrand triumphant at the congress of Vienna. The third 
Napoleon continues the magnificent procession. 

"Paris is always the Queen City of the world, reigning in un- 
disputed sway over men and manners, over arts and sciences, 
the home of beauty and delight. How shocking the collapse 
when a united Germany, frugal, domesticated, pious, comes be- 
tween exquisite France and the glories she has lost. It is an 
old, old story of Cinderella stepping out of the kitchen to eclipse 
her proud sister. 

"I know Germany. I spent many a month there every year, 
and I know how intellectual Germany thinks and feels about 
France. There's no prejudice, hatred feeling of 'Revanche, 
disdain or contempt in Germany against France. Just to the 
contrary, the fine arts of France, her culture and painting have 



150 NEUTRALITY 

become a. cult with the Germans. The appreciation of Rodin was 
first initiated in Germany. 

1 ' They venerate Anatole France ; Flaubert, Balzac, Maupas- 
sant produce the same effect upon them as though they were the 
flowerings of German art and creation. They adore the folk 
lore of southern France. You can find passionate admirers of 
Mistral in little German towns, in German alleys and garrets. 
It is the world's loss that France and Germany are not united 
politically. France and Germany ought to be the Keepers of the 
Light, the bulwarks of continental freedom and culture. But, 
alas! fate has decreed otherwise." 

Americans are accusing Germans of being barbarians. The 
accusers are, strangely enough, the kind of people who ride on 
German ships, attend concerts of German music, go to Bayreuth, 
visit German theatres, German libraries and German universi- 
ties, and are saved from death by German physicians. Many 
are the Americans who owe their health and probably their lives 
to the skill and science of the German doctors. 

In a certain number of a popular ten-cent magazine, there's 
another case of calculated mendacity and barefaced lying with 
the sole object of misleading and poisoning public opinion. The 
responsibility for the article rests as much with the editor as with 
the contributor. 

The author in question states that, "the attitude of Schles- 
wig-Holstein itself toward Germany in her present struggle is 
perhaps best indicated by the fact that Prince Albert of Schles- 
wig-Holstein, a lieutenant-general in the German army, has re- 
signed his commission and has joined the British forces in their 
operations against his former chief and suzerain." And an 
inquiry on the subject brought forth the following reply from 
the German military attache : "I want to state that Prince Al- 
bert of Schleswig-Holstein is with the German army in France, 
and holds a high position in the second army. ' ' 

There was no difficulty in eliciting this information. The 
same source of information was open to the editor. It is open 
to any editor who prefers truth to fiction. The editor and pro- 
prietor of this magazine owns several newspapers in different 
cities. One of his papers is published in New York and his bit- 
ter denunciation of Germans, Austrians and Hungarians outbids 
in hatred and vilification even his neighborly fellow publishers. 

Now this editor goes every year to Germany and Austria in 
search of health. He is to be met every summer in Carlsbad, 



NEUTRALITY 151 

wkere much honor and consideration is shown to him as to the 
editor of a great American newspaper. And a great editor he is. 
It was announced some time ago, in large black letters, in his 
and other papers, that this editor has given $25,000 to the Eng- 
lish Red Cross and $25,000 to the French Red Cross. One 
searched in vain for his contribution to the German or Austrian 
Red Cross; yet this editor goes yearly to Austria, and then 
to Germany to gain health and vigor— which enables him 
for the rest of the year to earn the $50,000 or more with which 
he endowed the Red Cross organizations of the allies, without 
giving one cent to the organization one member of which 
looks tenderly after his health, when he seeks rest, repose and 
cure at the wonderful springs of that celebrated health resort of 
Austria. Wonder what the "barbarian" Austrian and German 
doctors will say to him when he appears before them again after 
the war seeking cure and rest ? 

CHAPTER XLIX 
Perfidious Albion. 

Referring to the thirty-two varieties of the allies, the Jap is 
the most interesting to us Americans. 

Speaking of the "Entente," Mr. Crowley says: "To think 
of an alliance with the treacherous monkeys of Japan, the thieves 
and pirates of the East! Who makes the shoddy imitations of 
European and American machinery, forges the names of famous 
firms, sticks at no means to steal trade! Who, under cover of 
alliance with England, fostered in China a boycott of all Eng- 
lish goods? 

"Only yesterday Japan was at the throat of Russia— or at 
least trod heavily on one big toe. Today in Tokio they sing the 
Russian national anthem, and cheer the ambassador whenever he 
appears Why not? Of course. It is natural, it is human ; it 
is all in order. But it is fickleness and treachery ; it is hypocrisy 
and Jiumbug. Diplomacy is of necessity all this ; but at least let 
us mitigate the crime of confession ! Human nature is never so 
bad when it is not shackled by morality of emasculate idealists. 

"Does any person who knows the Far East believe, even in an 
opium dream, that Japan had any quarrel with Germany, or any 
care for her alliance with England? Kiao-Chau was an easy 
enough prey; well, then, snatch it, and chance the wrath of 
schoolmarmed America and the egregious Wilson. But for 



152 NEUTBALITY? 

God's sake, and by the navel of Daibutsu, and the twelve ban- 
ners of the twelve sects of Buddha, let us spit out the twaddle 
about honor, and justice, and oppressed China, and the sanctity 
of alliance ! ' ' 

Of the English, his own nation, Crowley adds: "England, 
the home of liberty, the refuge of the oppressed, the star of 
hope of the little nations. I suppose that any nation about whom 
they sang 

1 ' ' They 're hanging men, and women, too, 
For wearing of the green, ' 

would suppress the song by yet more hangings. The English 
are cynical enough to sing it themselves ! The English are ever 
on the lookout for atrocities. Bulgarian atrocities, Armenian 
atrocities, Tripolitan atrocities, Congo atrocities, and now Ger- 
man atrocities. One notices that the atrocity of the atrocitators 
varies with their political objectionability. The parable of the 
mote and the beam was made for England, surely. 

"German atheism! from the compatriots of Shelley, Thom- 
son, Bradlaugh, Morley, and John Burns. 

"German sensuality! from the fellow-citizens of Swinburne, 
Rossetti, Keats, and a. dozen others. German blasphemy! when 
the Kaiser invokes the God of Battles. As if the success of 
British arms were not prayed for daily in the churches, the name 
of God invoked in the addresses to the soldiers, and the very 
motto of England, ' Dieu et mon droit ! ' God and my duty ! It 
is true the Kaiser was first to make so emphatic an insistence 
that God was his ally ; it seems that England has the old literary 
grievance against those ' qui ante nos nostra dixerunt ! ' 

"Indeed, 'saevitia!' 

' ' German militarism ! Ha, ha ! A strange rebuke from Eng- 
land, whose saner citizens at this hour are cursing themselves 
that they did not have conscription twenty years ago. Have 
Englishmen forgotten their own Royal family? 

" 'The very dogs in England's court 
They bark and howl in German. ' 

"Edward VII. spoke English with an accent; and at the 
first hour of war with Germany we found the first Lord of the 
Admiralty a German Prince! Until this year England Jtas 
never been at war with Germany in the course of history since 
the Conquest. Our very speech, half German, bete&yeth us. 
All this is finished. The German is a. Hun, and a vandal, and a 
monster, and a woman torturer, a child-murderer. 



NEUTRALITY 153 

1 ' Oh perfidious Albion ! what a disgrace, what a sham ! The 
Huns, we cry ! And then we lure Algerians, not only of Arab, 
but of negroid and negro stock, into line. We make India gush 
out a venomous river of black troops, the desperate Gjhoorka, 
whose kukri is thrust upward through the bowels; the Pathan, 
whose very women scavenge the battlefield to rob, murder and 
foully mutilate the dead ; the Shikh, the lithe Paniyabi ; aye, the 
Bengali even, whose maximum of military achievement is the 
' Black Hole of Calcutta!' " 



CHAPTER L 
Wilhelm, the Dauntless. 

Continuing, Mr. Crowley says : 

' ' Against the Boers we Englishmen did not dare employ sav- 
age troops. Europe would have risen in arms at the abomina- 
tion. Today we do it, because all armed Europe is already 
either for us or against us. And, with all that, we use the 
Japanese ! Can we complain if the German papers say that the 
Kaiser is fighting for culture, for civilization, when the flower 
of the allied troops are black, brown, and yellow heathens, the 
very folks whom we have stopped from hook-swinging, suttee, 
child-murder, human sacrifice and cannibal feast? From Sene- 
gambia, Morocco, the Soudan, Afghanistan, every wild band of 
robber clans, come fighting men to slay the compatriots of Kant, 
Hegel, Goethe, Schiller, Heine, Beethoven, Wagner, Mozart, 
Durer, Helmholtz, Hertz, Haeckel, and a million others perhaps 
obscurer, no less noble, men of the Fatherland of music, of 
philosophy, of science and of medicine, the land where education 
is a reality and not a farce, the land of Luther and Melancthon, 
the land whose life blood washed out the Ecclesiastical tyranny 
of the Dark Ages. And then came the Triple Entente. 

' ' Germany was held like a deer in a lion's jaws. Austria, her 
only friend, was being ruined by insidious politics even more 
surely than by open attacks. Barred in the Adriatic, barred in 
the Baltic, the Teuton had but one small strip of reasonably 
open coast. That the Kaiser made the coast the greatest naval 
base in the world was held to be a ' menace. ' 

' ' And since the ' Entente ' the ordeal of the Kaiser has been 
Promethean. Insult after insult he has had to swallow; injury 
upon injury he has had to endure. The Kiao-Chau adventure, 



154 NEUTEALITY 

harmless and rational, was balked, then sterilized, then counter- 
poised. The colonies did not prosper. England built like a 
maniac against his navy ; Churchill deliberately pulled his nose 
by the impudent proposal for limitation of armaments. 

"Agadir was a fresh humiliation; for a few acres of unin- 
habitable jungle on the Congo he had to surrender all interest 
in Morocco, a country he had nursed for years. It is still a 
diplomatic secret, and I must not betray it. But who financed 
Italy in her Tripolitan adventure, and why ? And who is financ- 
ing her now — in this war? 

"The last straw was the Balkan war. Blotted was his one 
hope of escape to the East; Turkey was torn to pieces before 
his eyes, and he could not stir a finger to prevent it. Austria 
still blocked in the Adriatic, Italy alienated from the Triple 
Alliance, the Slav expanding everywhere, Constantinople itself 
threatened, Roumania turning toward Russia, he must have felt 
like a victim of that maiden of armor and spears that once exe- 
cuted justice on the weak. 

1 ' What was his only success ? The formation of the Kingdom 
of Albania — a kingdom ' pour rire, ' a kingdom a la Gilbert and 
Sullivan, Prince William of Wied less like a cat on hot bricks 
than like a spider on a glowing shovel. He never possessed so 
much as his capital in peace. And all this had been accom- 
plished without Wilhelm drawing sword or firing cannon. . . 

' ' Here then stood Wilhelm, dauntless. Diplomacy had failed ; 
his one ally was handicapped by domestic unrest; he was iso- 
lated in Europe; England was increasing her navy at a pace 
which he could never beat ; France with her three-year law, was 
proposing to increase her army by 50 per cent at a stroke ; Rus- 
sia was turning the flank, pushing on through the Balkans sub- 
tly and surely. 

"And fhe Kaiser answered, l I am fhe servant of God; I stand 
for peace. And let him that draws fhe sword perish by tJie 
sword!' 

"And the Triple Entente gathered closer and chuckled: 
' Aha ! he dare not fight. ' Let us frighten the garotte ! So Servia 
plots and executes the crime of Serajevo. Austria, its aged Em- 
peror smitten again, and most foully, demands imperatively the 
disclosure of the accomplices of the assassins. Servia replies in 
terms of evasion, evasion impudently cynical. Austria stirs. 
Russia replies by mobilizing. Before Austria has moved a man 
or a gun, Russia mobilizes. All things conspired ; he would make 
one final effort for peace by threatening Russia. 



NEUTRALITY 155 

' ' And then he suddenly knew that it was no good. Nothing 
was any good ; nothing would ever be any good again. Sir Ed- 
ward Grey, the hypocrite of all hypocrites, spoke for peace, 
spoke of neutrality, in the House of Commons at a moment when 
thousands of British troops were already in Belgian waters, and 
the fleet, concentrated and ready for action, already held the 
North Sea. France withdrew her troops from the frontier to 
hoodwink Wilhelm, 'so as to avoid any possibility of incidents 
which might be mistaken for aggression, ' while her Algerian and 
Senegambian troops were on the water, halfway to Marseilles. 

"William knew that this time there was no hope of peace. 
Abdication itself would hardly have saved Germany from a long- 
prepared, carefully-planned war, a war whose avowed object, an 
object in the mouth of every man in the street, was the destruc- 
tion of Austria., the dismemberment of Germany. They had got 
him. 

"Even a worm will turn; even a Quaker will fight if he's 
cornered. Wilhelm struck. And he struck hard ! " . . . 

CHAPTER LI 
' ' Christian ' ' England. 

On a certain day of January, 1915, an editorial appeared in 
the New York Herald under the caption: "Deutchland 
ueber alles. " In normal times the New York Herald is one of 
the best all around newspapers printed in America and its edi- 
tor, Mr. James Gordon Bennett, is known as one of the greatest 
journalists in America — but the trend of thought in that edi- 
torial in its impudence and distortion of facts brands it as such 
a grotesque display of editorial asininity that one must wonder 
how it happens to emanate from the New York Herald's editorial 
sanctum. 

Will the Herald or Sister "Pinky" answer these questions? 

What nation fought us in 1812 ? 

Who burned Washington, D. C. ? 

Who armed the Indians to murder and scalp settlers of the 
far West? 

Who conspired, plotted, pirated during our Revolutionary 
War? 

Who built the Alabama? 

Who defied our Monroe Doctrine in 1889, in Venezuela? 

Who objected to our fortifications in Panama? 



156 



N E U T E A L I T Y 




THE GREAT BRITON. 

"The Union Jack napping its folds over every Subject Province 
of England, is the Emblem of Death by Starvation! It is the 
famine flag. In India, a3 in Ireland, it is the Ensign of Desolation." 



NEUTRALITY 157 

Whose ambassador is Sir Lionel Garden, the man who dared 
to insult President Wilson? 

Who seized the American ships, the John D. Rockefeller, 
the Brindilla and the Platuria, the Hocking, the Genessee, and 
other American ships flying the Stars and Stripes bound for 
neutral ports? 

Who has been and is right along interfering with our ship- 
ping, seizing ships, foodstuffs and all other products sold and 
shipped by the United States citizens to neutral countries? 

Who is strenuously objecting to the United States buying 
and building ships in order to have a merchant marine and a 
respectable, efficient navy ? 

Who is disregarding American passports, dragging American 
citizens off the boats flying the Stars and Stripes and putting 
American citizens into concentration camps and prisons? 
Who was it that called us ''bastards and pirates" in 1812? 
Who took Persia, India, Egypt by force, and rules them with- 
out their consent ? 

Who took Gibraltar from Spain? 
Who is the oppressor of Ireland ? 

Who crushed the freedom of the Boer States and who is re- 
sponsible for Boer General Beyer's statement that every Boer 
farm and homestead was another Louvain ? 
Who starved millions of Indians ? 

Who killed, maimed and starved thousands of Boer women 
and children ? 

Who's General is Kitchener, called the " Butcher?" 
What nation is called "perfidious Albion" by the French? 
Who broke her solemn treaty with Denmark and bombarded 
Copenhagen? ,, ■-, _ 

Whose aviators dropped bombs on the undefended and open 
German cities, Dusseldorf and Freiburg? < ^ 

What nation stood for a certain brand of "civilization in 
the Indian mutiny in 1857 when she tied Hindus to the mouths 
of cannon and blew them into ' ' smithereens ? " 

What nation stood for "civilization" (?), "freedom" (?), 
and "liberty" ( ?) when Scotch borderers shot the Irish m Dub- 
lin?" 

Who was refusing to send a minister or ambassador to the 
Servian court after the assassination of the ruler? 

Will the Herald and poor little "Pinky" kindly answer these 
questions ? 



158 



NEUTRALITY 



The answer ought to be a very easy one. Every American or 
European schoolboy is able to answer them, as there's but one 
answer to all these questions, and the answer is: " ENG- 
LAND.' ' 

Should the dear editors of the "Al-lies" papers, including 
the kangaroo editor of the Providence Journal, John Revelstoke 
Rathom, Esq., doubt the correctness of that answer, be they ad- 
vised to turn to the late Labouchere, verily a good Englishman 
and one of the great editors of London. Mr. Labouchere ought 
to be a competent authority in this matter, being known as one 
of England's great statesmen, orator, and member of Parliament 
from 1865 to 1880. Mr. Labouchere, in his world-wide publica- 
tion, The Truth, gave the answer when he wrote and published 
the poem entitled "Where Is the Flag of England?" 

For the edification and enlightenment of some of the "Al- 
lies" editors and particularly for the benefit of the English-born 
German baiter, John Revelstoke Rathom, the intrepid champion 
discoverer of bomb plots, who's running the Providence Jour- 
nal — the poem is reprinted here. 



Where Is the Flag of England? 

By HENRY LABOUCHERE 




The Flag of the Double Cross. 



And the winds of the world made answer! 

North, South, East and West — 
Where'er there is wealth to covet 

Or land to be possessed; 
Where'er are savage nations 

To coddle, coerce or scare, 
You may look for the vaunted emblem — 

The flag of England is there. 



NEUTRALITY 159 

Ay, it waves o'er the blazing hovels, 

Whence its African victims fly 
To be shot by explosive bullets, 

Or to wretchedly starve and die! 
Or where the beachcomber harries 

The isles of the southern sea, 
From the peak of his hellish vessel, 

The English flag flies free. 

The Maori, full of hate, curses 

With his fleeting, dying breath, 
And the Arab hath hissed his curses 

As he spat at its folds in death. 
The hapless fellah hath feared it 

On Tel el Kebir's parched plain, 
And the blood of the Zulu hath dyed it 

With a deep, indelible strain. 

It has floated o'er scenes of pilage 

And flaunted o'er deeds of shame; 
It has waved o'er the fell marauder 

As he ravished with sword and flame; 
It has looked on ruthless slaughter 

And assassination, dire and grim, 
It has heard the shrieks of its victims 

Drown even the jingo hymn. 

Where is the flag of England? 

Seek the land where the natives rot 
Where decay, and assured extinction 

Must soon be the people's lot. 
Go! search for the once fair islands 

Where disease and death are rife, 
And the greed of callous commerce 

Now fattens on human life. 

Where is the flag of England? 

Go sail where rich galleons come 
With their shoddy and "loaded" cotton, 

And opium, Bibles and rum. 
Seek the land where brute force reigneth 

And hypocrisy hath its lair, 
And your question will thus be answered — 

For the flag of England is there. 



160 NEUTRALITY 

This is a testimony of character by one of England's own 
and famous great editors. Enough said! Won't "Sir" John 
Revelstoke Rathom need a new hat and chest measurement upon 
reading this "By Jove, jolly clevah" delineation of his country, 
referred to on another page. 

And the bunting itself. What does it show? A DOUBLE 
CROSS. Exactly what the flag means : Double-crossing every- 
body, everywhere, every time! England evidently awoke to 
the fact that her double-cross flag won't do any more, so she 
looked around trying to find a new flag which promised more 
safety, more respect and less worry for her empire. Presto! 
she appropriated the best looking one and which appealed to 
the protection of her decadence and degeneracy best. 

It is the flag of Uncle Sam! "Old Glory!" The Stars and 
Stripes of the United States! England thinks and says to 
herself: What does a little "bunting" amount to between 
"dear cousins?" There is the English beast, "The Mistress 
of the Sea," clutching and holding in its paws the flag of the 
United States, which insures her a "free sea," denied and dis- 
puted to her old "double-cross" bunting by Germany's clever 
and efficient submarine fleet. 



CHAPTER LI I 

Misuse of "Old Glory." 

The German Government has made so far public, through 
the German Embassy, the following memoranda on the misuse 
of the American flag by British vessels since the beginning of 
the German submarine war: 

February 3 — An unknown freighter sailed from Dover to 
Norelight, near Sheerness, under the American flag. 

February 7 — The Lusitania passengers report that, by order 
of the British Admiralty, the American flag was hoisted when 
near the Irish coast. 

February 11 — The Orduna sailed in danger zone under the 
American flag. 

April 23 — The Dunedin, which arrived at Newport News on 
April 22, when on the sea, hoisted the American flag in order to 
escape a German submarine. 



NEUTEALITY 



161 







*«• * •*>■ 



-N. Y. World. 



"SAFETY FIRST," 



162 NEUTBALXTY 

May 30 — An unknown steamer hoisted the American flag 
when near Gallop fireship and seemed to have Swedish nation- 
ality marks on her bow. 

June 3 — The Carnavon sailed on April 21 under the Amer- 
ican flag and the name of " Texan.' ' (Eeport is confirmed by 
Captain Horace Jefferson of Brooklyn, N. Y., master of Steam- 
ship Southerland of Savannah.) 

The Carmantshire (or Carbavonshire), when entering Bahia, 
is declared to have had her port of register altered from " Bel- 
fast' ' to "Boston," United States of America. 

And last, but not least, the Barajong, to which the writer 
referred to on another page. 

In addition, the German Government gives long lists of viola- 
tions of other neutrals ' distinctive marks, as follows : 

Seven British ships misused Danish flag; Greek, one misuse 
of flag; Dutch, seventy-one; Norwegian, thirteen; Swedish, 
twenty-one; Spanish, four. 

In all European naval circles, particularly in those of the 
neutral countries, it is well known that the British admiralty 
gave orders to the masters of merchant ships and commanders of 
her war fleet to use neutral flags when and wherever they are in 
danger. These orders and instructions are marked "Confiden- 
tial" and one of them reads as follows: 

"British shipping is instructed to maintain a sharp watch 
for submarines and show either the flag of a neutral country or 
none at all so long as the ship is in the vicinity of the British 
Isles. The British flag must be shown on meeting British or 
allied warships. House flags must not be carried and marks and 
home ports must be effaced. 

* ' Flags which should be used according to the above are the 
following : American, Holland, Scandinavian, Norwegian, Span- 
ish, but preferably American. Carrying neutral flag, use also 
false names. Crossing the channel show no flag at all. ' ' 

How tJie mighty have fallen! England hides tremblingly 
under the American flag ! John Bull has become John Sneak! 

What a cowardly attitude for a boastful nation which prides 
itself on being mistress of the sea ! Poor, humiliated Britannia 
is evidently not "ruling the waves" any more, but, instead, is 
1 * waving the rules ' ' of every decency of naval warfare. 



CHAPTER LI 1 1 

The Hearst Papers. 

The adjoining cartoons are characteristic of the Hearst 
papers in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and 
Atlanta. 



^i 




-Hearst Papers. 

"BUSINESS IS BOOMING!"— SAYS MR. WILSON. 

163 



164 



NEUTRALITY 



Newspaper readers all through the country are, of course, 
aware of the tendency of the Hearst papers. They know, also, 
that to have the first news, the best news, at all cost, and irre- 
spective of where the news comes from, made the Hearst papers, 




— Hearst Papers. 

TAKING A SPORTING CHANCE. 

wherever they are published, the newsiest, and, for that reason, 
the widest-circulated papers. 

Mr. Hearst, not wishing to yield to anyone in the matter of 
news, and to make his papers interesting to the million readers of 
his various publications, buys and prints all the news he can get. 
But whatever the shortcomings are in the quality and reliability 



NEUTEALITY 165 

of his news, the Hearst papers, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
are American, and Hearst at least lives up to his slogan: "An 
American paper for American people." 

The Hearst papers breathe Americanism in spirit and deed. 
The whole tendency of the Hearst papers has always been to 
hold up American spirit and American institutions. He has 
fought, and is fighting, in favor of an American merchant ma- 
rine; he fought in favor of free tolls for coastwise shipping 
through the Panama Canal ; openly and fearlessly advocated the 
fortifications of the canal and, with all the power and eloquence, 
reason, justice and patriotism, fought, and continues to fight, 
servilism to England and the subjugation of our national pride, 
spirit and achievement to arrogant Great Britain. 

Hence, in this war, while keeping to neutrality as much as 
possible editorially, the Hearst papers favored the Teuton cause, 
the German ideals and German aspirations. He has repeatedly 
called to task our London ambassador, who is playing the 
"page" for England and to England, for his verbal indiscre- 
tions, which did not sound and did not spell American. 

The Hearst papers fearlessly attacked the President for his 
pro-British attitude. Though printing the news as it came from 
London and Paris and off the lying typewriters of Petrograd, the 
Hearst papers very frequently warned its readers to beware of 
false news, of the exaggerations whenever they had reason to 
doubt the correctness of the London-inspired lying news service. 

"""William E. Hearst has been denounced as a yellow journalist. 
Yet to this greatest crisis in world's history, perhaps the greatest 
in our own history, his newspapers are sane in the midst of in- 
sanity. He has been denounced as a demagogue, yet while his 
brother editors are appealing to the "mob" and attempting to 
inflame and embitter the mob mind, he dares face the storm and 
counsel moderation. 

He has been denounced as unprincipled, a, mere journalist 
faker out for the money ; yet at a time when the richest and most 
powerful interests in the country are desperately concerned in 
prolonging the war there is not money enough at their disposal 
to influnce the course of his newspapers. 

He has been denounced as shallow, as a mountebank, yet al- 
most alone among the great editors of the country he is one with 
the imagination to grasp the full horrors of this war, the insight 
to prove its meaning, the vision to foresee its fearful conse- 
quences to the race. He has even been denounced as a. ' * traitor, ' ' 



166 NEUTRALITY 

yet today it is the stalwart Americanism of his newspapers, un- 
tainted either by Anglicism or Teutonism, that most distin- 
guishes them from other newspapers published. 

"Many times," concludes the World-Herald of Omaha, "we 
have been unable to agree with Mr. Hearst to indorse his meth- 
ods. It has said at times some pretty harsh things of him. But 
he appeals to us today, this hour of trick and danger, as a better 
American, a better Christian, a true lover of humanity, a braver 
man than any of those whose habit it has been to sneer at and 
belittle him. 

"It is to Mr. Hearst's credit — and when the frenzy of war 
subsides it will be a monument to his name — that he has the 
courage to preach the gospel of peace and love at a time when 
other great newspapers with which his own must compete are 
appealing to hatred and anger and standing as the champions of 
war. ' ' 

The Hearst papers have given considerable very valuable 
space to outside contributors, who wished to voice their senti- 
ments, air their feelings, opinions and affiliations in and with 
momentous questions of the bloody battle in Europe and out of 
the many highly enlightening, very well informed and best but 
not least patriotic communications the one, written by George 
W. 'Reilly and published in all the Hearst papers on the 25th 
of August, 1915, created quite a sensation and much commentary 
discussion. The absolute correctness of the historical data and 
the patriotic American spirit — akin to the writings of our George 
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and other real 
American patriots — which emanates from every line and sen- 
tence of Mr. O'Reilly's eminent and brilliant communication — 
makes it not only worthy, but highly imperative of reproduction 
in this volume. 



CHAPTER LIV 

England, Destroyer of Nations and Commerce. 

Mr. O'Reilly addresses himself to the editor of the New York 
American, and says : 

"England Jias onade cotton contraband of war and has ille- 
gally interfered with its free shipment by the United States. 
Cotton is one of the chief products of this country. Cotton is 
one of our main articles of commerce. 



NEUTRALITY 



167 




— L. A. Times. 



BLACKHANDING AMERICA. 



"Our right under international law to export cotton unham- 
pered by England } s interference is undeniable, unquestionable, 
even undented and unquestioned. England does not prohibit 



168 NEUTRALITY 

our exportation of cotton to neutral nations as a measure of 
right, but as a measure of might. 

"She sweeps this important article of the commerce of this 
country from the seas without ruth and without right, because 
she cares to do so and because she can do so. She inflicts this 
severe blow with the might of her marine power, upon a great 
staple product of this country because she is fearful of Ger- 
many, and. second, because she is jealous of the United States. 

"England guards her commerce as she guards her life, be- 
cause she has intelligence enough to realize that her commerce is 
her life. She has never allowed any nation to build up a com- 
merce to compete with hers. She would not permit Germany to 
build up a rival commerce. She plotted war with Germany and 
leagued the nations against Germany to undermine, hamper and 
eventually destroy her chief commercial rival. 

"England will not allow the United States in this era of our 
opportunity to build up a rival commerce. Twice before, in the 
short history of the country, England has set out to destroy our 
commerce and both times she succeeded in destroying it. 

"In the early years of the nineteenth century our commerce 
was supreme upon the seas. Our new-born American flag 
flaunted in the furtherest harbors. Our goods were distributed 
wherever the waves rolled and the winds blew and we carried as 
our commerce not only the products of our own country, but a 
large share of the products of other countries as well. 

"Then England began, as she is beginning now, to interfere 
with our commerce in every possible way, illegally, illegitimately, 
vigorously, vindictively. She closed the ports of herself and 
her allies upon us. She blacklisted our goods with orders in 
council. She robbed us of our neutral rights then as she is do- 
ing now. She held up our ships in high-sea piracy and robbed 
them of their seamen. She finally forced us into war to defend 
our lately won liberties. Then with the same arrogance and in- 
solence of naval power that she is using and abusing today, she 
pillaged what remained of our commerce afloat and as a final act 
of contempt and defiance burned and gutted the capitol of our 
nation and the White House of our President. 

"Again in the years preceding our Civil War our commerce 
had regained its supremacy. Our clipper ships were the ad- 
miration of the world, our Yankee skippers sailed undaunted the 
most distant seas. But during our Civil War England took ad- 
vantage of our dangers and difficulties. Illegally and illegiti- 



NEUTRALITY 169 

mately again, in violence and in violation of trade and treaty 
rights, she allowed the building of hostile vessels in her yards and 
the fitting out of pirate privateers in her ports to prey upon our 
commerce and destroy it. 

"Yet we are not the unusual objects of England's antag- 
onism. We are not the specially selected subjects of England's 
envy and enmity. President Wilson, professor of English his- 
tory and also English professor of history, could tell you if only 
he loved his mother country less and his adopted country more, 
that it has been the persistent policy of England throughout the 
centuries to destroy every nation which sought to rival her com- 
merce, to challenge her empire of the oceans. 

"In the sixteenth century Spain, with a courage and an en- 
terprise which other nations did not possess, set out to find new 
roads across uncharted seas, new lands and new riches for itself 
and for the world. America was discovered, the Father of Wa- 
ters was found, the western shores of the Pacific were first 
beheld, the earth was circumnavigated, unknown lands explored, 
undreamed of wealth revealed, all by expeditions under the flag 
of Spain: 

"England trailed enviously and hungrily behind. 

"What Spain found England stole. The wealth Spain 
wrested from the earth England robbed from her at sea. 

"The Raleighs, the Drakes, and all the lusty pirates whom 
we have been taught by English textbooks to reverence as heroes 
were commissioned to prey upon Spanish commerce and rob 
the Spanish galleons of their gold. Queen Elizabeth, as able 
as she was unscrupulous, welcomed those sea rovers upon their 
successful return, sliared in the plunder of their piracy and 
rewarded them with knighthood in accordance with the royal 
custom of her race. 

"At last Spain, pillaged of the profits of her energy and en- 
terprise, went to war with England and was beaten, her armada 
and her commerce were destroyed. 

"England once more by force and fear held hegemony of the 
seas. 

"In the seventeenth century Holland, by patience and per- 
sistence, by courage and constancy, created a splendid commerce 
with the Far East. The venturesome ships of this brave little 
country sailed from the north to the south seas around the Cape 
of Good Hope and up into the Indian ocean. They carried 
the goods of Europe and brought back the wealth of the Orient. 
Their trade was vast and valuable and England coveted it. 



170 NEUTRALITY 

''England found excuse for war, as usual, and tJie wealth 
which little Holland had so hardly won was taken from her with 
that smug mixture of prayer and piracy that is so character- 
istically English. All that ivas best in Holland's commerce and 
colonies England acquired — in the interest of those "free insti- 
tutions" and of that "higher civilization" which England takes 
so much pride — and profit — in representing. 

"In the eighteenth century it was France which forged to the 
front as a commercial and colonizing country, and which was 
fought and defeated, her commerce destroyed and her colonies 
appropriated by England. 

"In the nineteenth century it was the United States, as we 
have seen, whose commerce and prosperity were the objects of 
England's greed and jealousy. 

"In the twentieth century it was Germany. 
_ ''Therefore, England will not make peace "until Germany's 
militarism is destroyed" and England's navyism is left supreme 
to dominate the seas and render all other nations subject on 
the waters, which constitute three-fourths of the earth's surface 
and as much of the world's opportunity. 

"The surprising thing in all this series of historical events is 
that no nation has learned the lesson of them. 

"England has always found and always finds some nation to 
help her pull her chestnuts out of the fire, some catspaw to 
help her appropriate another nation's commerce and colonies. 

"In England's war against France in 1815 it was Germany 
which was allied with England and which gave the decisive blow 
which eliminated France as England's rival. In 1915 it is 
France which is allied with England and which is doing much 
more than England herself to eliminate Germany from Eng- 
land's path to world power. One would think that the nations 
of Europe would see the folly of continually fighting each other 
to further England's vaulting ambitions toward the control of 
the world in her own interest. 

"But before we criticise others let us make sure that we are 
awake to our own folly. 

"Is not England using us as a catspaw also? Is not England 
employing us to destroy her rival, Germany, and to establish 
herself more firmly in the hegemony of the seas — her seas and 
OUR seas? 

"Are we not being HIRED to injure Germany just as Ger- 
man Hessians were once HIRED to fight against us? 



NEUTRALITY 171 

"ARE WE NOT BEING BRIBED TO SACRIFICE OUR 
OWN BEST INTERESTS AS WELL AS OUR MORAL 
SCRUPLES AND TO SEND ARMS TO ENGLAND SO THAT 
THEN SHE CAN EXTERMINATE THE GERMANS AND 
OBLITERATE GERMANY AND POSSESS HERSELF OF 
GERMANY'S COMMERCE AND COLONIES? 

"ARE WE NOT STRENGTHENING ENGLAND AND 
HER ALLY, JAPAN, IN THEIR CONTROL OF THE 
OCEAN HIGHWAYS WHICH LEAD TO OUR VERY 
DOORS? ARE WE NOT AS FOOLISH AS THE MOST 
FOOLISH OF THE EUROPEAN NATIONS WHICH DRAG 
ENGLAND'S CHESTNUTS OUT OF THE FIRE TO THEIR 
OWN INJURY? 

"Have we not had sufficient experience of how England em- 
ploys Tier command of the seas? If we have not had sufficient 
experience in the past, are we not having it now? 

"Do we not see how our neutral commerce is being destroyed, 
how a chief staple of our production is being vitally injured? 
Worse than all, if we are patriotic and liberty -loving citizens, 
do we not see how our rights are being invaded and violated? 

"We can send our arms to England because England needs 
them to murder Germans and to establish herself more firmly 
as empress of all the sea and mistress of most of the land, but 
we cannot send our peaceful products to neutral nations. We 
cannot exercise OUR RIGHTS because they interfere with Eng- 
land's AMBITIONS AND AGGRESSIONS. 

"ABE WE AN INDEPENDENT NATION OR AN ENG- 
LISH COLONY? HAVE WE A PRESIDENT WHO IS A 
BRITISH SUBJECT OR AN AMERICAN CITIZEN? Have 
we any moral and any political virtue, or are we subject to 
bribery in our moral sentiments, and submissive to bullying in 
our political attitudes? 

"ARE WE QUITE SURE THAT THIS IS AFTER ALL 
'THE HOME OF THE BRAVE AND THE LAND OF THE 
FREE?' If so, now is the time to demonstrate our bravery 
and assert our FREEDOM. England has stopped our ship- 
ment of cotton. LET US STOP OUR SHIPMENT OF ARMS. 
Let us proclaim our moral courage, our political independence. 
Let us clearly define and courageously defend our rights. 

"Let us be worthy of our ancestors, who fought for freedom 
and won it, who contended for 'principle' and established it. 

"Let us reaffirm the inspiring words of Pinkneys { MIL- 



172 NEUTKALITY 

LIONS FOR DEFENSE, BUT NOT ONE CENT FOR 
TRIBUTE.' 

"Let us be righteous and also just, independent and also im- 
partial. 

"Let us say to Germany and England ALIKE, 'There are 
our RIGHTS; defy them if you dareV 

"GEORGE W. O'REILLY." 

CHAPTER LV 
Doping Uncle Sam. 

While the "Al-lies" papers, in these strenuous and warlike 
days, have forgotten everything that they have ever written 
and preached about the "yellow peril/ ' and talk only about 
the "German peril' ' — " Militarism, ' ' they dub it — the Hearst 
papers have constantly kept before their readers the great dan- 
ger that faces the United States in the alliance of England with 
the Japs. 

The Chicago American says: "The intrusion of Japan into 
the European war is a matter to excite the especial interest and 
attention of the American public. Japan has no quarrel what- 
ever with Germany or Austria, no reason, as far as surface 
indications are concerned, for injecting herself into the Euro- 
pean situation. What, then, was the secret or subterranean 
reason for Japan's action? 

"Great Britain has often assured the government and the 
people of the United States that no such intimate alliance with 
Japan existed, but the plain facts and Japan's frank acknowl- 
edgment are incontrovertible. The action of Japan is wholly 
inexplicable upon any other assumption. 

"The Japanese have shown a strange antagonism towards 
the United States in the Philippines, in Honolulu, in Mexico, 
and now they manifest an ambition to take possession of German 
China as well as of the German islands in the Pacific. The 
attitude of Japan and her procedure against Germany is a 
warning. Might we not over night have a war on account of 
the secret treatise between Japan, England, and Russia ? ' ' 

The American who cannot see the menace of Japan, who is 
unable to perceive that that able, dangerous Power is sleep- 
lessly preparing its military and naval strength to try conclu- 
sions with the white man for the dominance of the Pacific and 
the ultimate dominance of the world, is blind — hopelessly, 
blankly blind. 



NEUTRALITY 



173 



Representative Gardner, in his speech in Congress on Jan- 
uary 21, 1915, speaking about the unpreparedness of our coun- 
try, asked: "Supposing official Japan wakes up some fine 
morning and finds her people are murmuring louder and louder 
that America must treat them as equals or they will know the 
reason why? I don't think the wisest of us can look very far 
into the future nowadays. Suppose the Japanese do demand 
equal treatment? What are we going to do? "Why not take 
our heads out of the sand ? ' ' 

Yes, why not take our heads out of the sand and look around 
and discover who is on the side of Japan! It is not Germany! 
It is England and Russia, and particularly the "dear Cousin" 
John Bull, with his ' ' absolute control ' ' of the sea. 

The cartoon entitled 
"Doping Uncle Sam" con- 
veys an interesting 
thought. England 's con- 
trol of the American har- 
bors. St. John's and Hali- 
fax are within striking dis- 
tance of the coast of New 
England. British cruisers 
are seen daily off Sandy 
Hook and at other point 
along our coast. The Brit- 
ish fortified coaling sta- 
tions block up absolutely 
the Gulf of Mexico and the 
Panama Canal. In the 
South the chain of forti- 
fied coaling stations com- 
mence with the Bermudas, 
just about opposite Char- 
leston, the Bahamas, com- 
manding the straits betweet Key West and Havana; Jamaica, 
the entrance to the Caribbean Sea. 

Then there are Barbadoes and Trinidad ; ships must pass on 
the way from the United States to South America. Out of 350,- 
000 miles of cables in the world more than 300,000 are British 
owned and controlled. Great Britain has fortified the sea by 
her possesion of any number of islands and of fortresses on for- 
eign soil. She has a fringe of islands all around the United 




Doping Uncle Sam. 



174 NEUTRALITY 

States, with. Bermuda, Jamaica, Barbadoes, Trinidad and Brit- 
ish Guiana, not to forget Halifax and Vancouver, and controls 
the entrance to the Panama Canal by these islands and the pas- 
sage through the Strait of Magellan into the Pacific by her com- 
mand of the Falkland Islands. 

She does the same in the Pacific and on the China coast by 
Weihaiwei, Shanghai, and Hongkong, and all around Africa by 
the occupation of Zanzibar, Cape Town, St. Helena, and Lagos. 
So, not a word of uncensored news, even regarding markets and 
market conditions, can go through, and the United States is as 
thoroughly isolated as were she in the moon. 

That's a. fine eventuality to reckon with on that "nice and 
fine morning, ' ' when Japan will ask you f or something and Eng- 
land will stand behind her as a true and loyal ally to back her 
up. 

WAKE UP, AMERICA!— Wake up! you "Al-lies" papers 
and don't forget that in fighting England's claim of absolute 
rulership of the seas, Germany is fighting for the United States 
as well as for all other neutral countries! And if ever it comes to 
"the day" that we will have to face Japan, don't forget Baron 
von Steuben, the drill-master of George Washington's army; 
don't forget General Muhlenberg, who dropped his stole in the 
pulpit and won fame alongside Washington; don't forget De- 
Kalb, meeting a hero 's death in our great cause of independence ; 
don't forget Herkimer and his Mohawk Valley Germans who 
won the famous battle of Oriskany ; don 't forget David Zeigler, 
the first mayor of Cincinnati, and for six weeks the commander- 
in-chief of the American army; don't forget Jacob Leisler, the 
vice-governor of the Province of New York, who paid the penalty 
to England as the first American rebel; don't forget the famous 
fighters of later generations, Generals Custer, Rosencranz, Sie- 
gel, Schurz, Osterhaus, Admiral Schley, and Colonel Willich, the 
Pennsylvania and New York in the Revolution; and last, but 
not least, the 250,000 German volunteers in the army of the 
Union in our Civil War ! ! They were all hyphenated German- 
Americans! Weren't they?" 

Evidently the editors of the "Al-lies" press have suddenly 
lost their memories ; evidently, the great historian and author of 
"The History of the American Nation," Mr. Woodrow Wilson, 
now President of the United States, has also forgotten those 
names and American history connected with them. Unaccount- 
able, unexplainable, aye, ridiculous — if it were not so serious — 



NEUTBALITY 



175 



is therefore the President's speech, made at the silver jubilee 
Celebration of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 

In view of his authorship of the above-mentioned work, and 
in view of he being the President of all Americans, his criticism 
of those citizens who do not agree with the one-sided course of 
his anglophile administration was utterly out of place and made 
in bad taste and bad faith. 




THE MENU. 

"What Is Tour Order, Honorable Sir? Will You Have Manchuria, Indo-China, 
Hong Kong, Phillipines, Pacific " 



CHAPTER LVI 
The Eeal Menace Among the Hyphens. 

In times like this it is not ta.ctful that Wilson should ques- 
tion the loyalty of any citizen who has sworn under oath his 
allegiance to the United States. It is not within his province 
and many citizens of foreign birth will rightfully consider his 
remarks as personal insult. This is especially the case when the 
pro-British leanings of President Wilson and his cabinet are 
so decidedly evident that even British newspapers have described 
the adminstration's attitude as a V convenient neutrality." 

Our illustrious President, in his caustic speech, seems to have 
been very much troubled physically, soulfully, and in three or 
four other ways, because a large portion of our population was 
born on soil contiguous to the Rhine or Danube. The word " Hy- 
phen" seems to have soured his temper very much. Were his 
thoughts probably with that Jiyplienated Englishman who killed 
Lincoln, with the Jiyplienated Frenchman who killed Garfield 
or the Jiyplienated Russian who killed McKinley? 

The hyphen, which at present is receiving much top-of-col- 
umn-next-to-reading-matter free advertising, seems to make the 
President's back itchy where he can't reach it to scratch. Like 
a bad-debt collector, it bobs up, here and there, with a sudden- 
ness that would make the speed of the electric spark appear 
like a snail 's pace. It has got into everything the good man eats 
and drinks. It stalks on the golf-links, creeps into his state 
papers, runs riotously through his diplomatic correspondence, 
peeps through keyholes, looks over the transoms and hides under 
his bed. If it keeps this up much longer, says the ' ' Irish Voice, ' ' 
it will cause our President to say something in a moment of 
anger which he will not be able to explain away before Novem- 
ber, 1916 ; at least, he may rest assured that whatever he says 
he will not be allowed to forget. 

Before this European war we did not hear very much about 
the hyphen. During the recruiting days of 1776, 1812, 1861 or 
1906 we do not remember of anyone throwing a fit over the 
hyphen. Some men who carry the hyphen are the men who car- 
ried a rifle when our national existence was threatened by the 
very nation which the President is now trying to placate by 
abusing the hyphen. 

The men of the hyphen were not the men behind the guns 
when England came to conquer, and remember this, and tell it 

176 



NEUTEALITY 177 

to your children, that it was the men of the liyplien who made, 
the United States a Free and Independent Nation, established 
an asylum for the oppressed of every alien land, gave civil and 
religious liberty to the Puritanically oppressed, and made it 
possible that some day even a Woodrow Wilson might be the 
President of the results of their efforts. 

What is there to be said in regard to the utterances of our 
learned President contained in his most remarkable speech, made 
before the Manhattan Club on November 4, 1915. Surely, no 
speech like that has ever been made by an American President ! 
One thing is certain, that to the American citizens of German, 
Hungarian, Austrian or Irish descent the insinuation of lack 
of loyalty will be very irritating, this insinuation coming from 
a person who, through his descent and actions, shows a decided 
bias and prejudice. The President said : 

"The only thing within our own borders that has given us 
grave concern in recent months has been that voices have been 
raised in America professing to be the voices of Americans which 
were not in deed and in truth American, but which spoke alien 
sympathies, which came from men who loved other countries 
better than they loved America ; men who were partisans of other 
causes than that of America and had forgotten that their chief 
and only allegiance was to the great government under which 
they lived. These voices have not been many, but they have 
been very loud and very clamorous. They have proceeded from 
a few who were bitter and who were grievously misled. ' ' 

Precisely, Mr. President! But whose voices were these? 
The voices of such men as Choate, Schwab, Eliot, Bennett, Mor- 
gan, Ochs, Reid and many others who manufacture ammunition 
— sell war material and foodstuffs to the Allies, or are conduct- 
ing newspaper enterprises in favor of "Al-lies!" 

The President said: "The vast majority of those who have 
come to take advantage of her (America's) hospitality have 
united their spirits with hers as well as their fortunes. These 
men who speak alien sympathies are not their spokesmen, but 
are the spokesmen of small groups whom it is high time the 
nation should call to a reckoning." 

Precisely, Mr. President! And for this very same reason 
such spokesman as that kangaroo editor who is befouling the 
pages of the Providence Journal should have been "called to a 
reckoning" long, long ago. His "small groups" are the groups 
of Wall Street men and the group of men earning their blood 
money in the ammunition arsenals of Bethlehem, not of Pal- 



178 



NEUTBALITY 



estine, but of Pennsylvania. The Bethlehem of the good book 
tells another story. 




"Voices 



Which. Spoke Alien Sympathies. ' 5 — Wilson. 



The President said : ' ' The chief thing necessary in America 
. . . is that that real voice of the nation should sound forth 
unmistakably and in majestic volume, in the deep unison of a 
common, unhesitating national feeling. I do not doubt that 
upon the first occasion, upon the first opportunity, upon the 
first definite challenge, that voice will speak forth in tones which 
no man can doubt and with commands which no man dare gain- 
say or resist." 

Precisely, Mr. President! "The voice will speak forth" next 
November, and ' ' No man can doubt it ! ' ' The ' ' first opportunity 



NEUTRALITY 179 

upon the first definite challenge" is coming, and some "hy- 
phens" will be glad and ready to have "an opportunity" to 
express at the polls that there are men left in America who will 
declare that "the glory of America is that she is a great spir- 
itual conception" and not an attitude of hypocrisy. 

CHAPTER LVII 
The Real Danger. 

The real danger of our country lies in the attitude and spirit 
of those Anglo-Saxon hyphenates who are always telling us 
that "blood is thicker than water" and singing patriotic songs 
about "hands across the seas." Can they be depended on to 
fight if British insolence should finally force us to declare our 
independence of England for the third time? How many of 
them have Tory blood in their veins and would discover a thou- 
sand excuses why a third war with Great Britain would be un- 
holy revolution against "the mother country" and would 
refuse to fight? 

"Hands across the sea," a fine phrase manufactured in 
Britain some years ago by a self-esteemed diplomat who saw 
the advantage of consolidating the relations between his country 
and the United States. It was taken up by all the people in 
the "right little, tight little isle," but the current events show 
that this phrase is the rankest kind of hypocrisy. The English 
care no more about us than they do about Hottentots in Africa, 
as is plain when we interfere with their greed for trade or gold. 
"Blood is thicker than water," another phrase hatched up in 
Britain to pull the wool over the Americans' eyes. It is rank 
hypocrisy, too. 

They have come over here and asked for an immense loan of 
Americans to finance the bloody conflict in which they are en- 
gaged. Without our money, our foodstuffs and our munitions 
of war they would -soon be walloped just as badly as the Rus- 
sians on the eastern frontier, and Germany would be triumphant 
in the great war. We have generously loaned them this money, 
and for what will they use it? Mostly to grab our trade while 
the war is going. on. 

In the prejudice, hypocrisy and greed of those who stretch 
hands "across the sea" to us and who acclaim the thickness of 
their blood with ours they are going further than forbidding 
us to ship our goods to neutral countries in order that they may 



180 NEUTEALITY 

grab the trade in their greed, in that they are forbidding their 
manufacturers and merchants to sell goods to Americans except- 
ing under a binding pledge that they will not be resold to any 
other person, corporation or firm excepting upon the direct and 
specific permission of the English. The goods must be con- 
signed to the respective governments and must be sent by way 
of Great Britain or its colonies. 

Very gratifying to American pride, isn 't it ? 

"We can't ship wool to Germany, Austria, Holland, Denmark, 
Norway or Sweden, because we are forbidden to do so by the 
British Admiralty. 

"We can ship wool to England, France, Russia and Japan, 
but it must be shipped via England or some English colony. 

That is to say, our right to compete with British trade in the 
markets of the world is subject to permission of the British 
Admiralty. And apparently our government is so poor in spirit 
that it assents to this doctrine. 

Would President Washington, President Jackson or Presi- 
dent Lincoln have submitted to such treatment of their country ? 

Blood thicker than water? Yes, and blacker than pitch, and 
more poisonous than the venom of a rattlesnake. Hands across 
the sea? Yes, to throttle every American industry the big paw 
can choke the life out of and to grab every bit of American trade 
that the big paw is capable of grasping. Hypocrisy of the rank- 
est kind it is. 

The hyphen that "wearies" us now is not the German hy- 
phen, or the Austro-Hungarian hyphen, or the Irish hyphen, or 
the Senegambian hyphen, but the hyphen that has hyphenated 
the American administration to England, the hyphen that has 
driven the American flag from the high seas, the hyphen that 
sends the Chicago packers to Washington to protest against the 
piratical seizures of their cargoes, billed to neutral nations, the 
hyphen that has brought down on our heads the ridicule of the 
neutral and belligerent, of the fool and the intellectual, of the 
civilized and the savage. The hyphen that is liable to land us 
in the ditch of disgrace is the Morgan-Root-Choate-Reid-Eliot- 
Rathom-English hyphen. 

The aliens in this country, who love other nations better 
than they iove the United States, are NOT the so-called hyphen- 
ated aliens, but the English aliens, the alien sponges who 
come here and absorb everything and return nothing, not even 
a desire for citizenship, except through pressure — by the law 
of the land or by contempt from the bona-fide citizens. 



NEUTRALITY 181 

When a paper like the New York Globe, in its insolence, 
tries to besmirch the patriotic character of the German, Austro- 
or Hungarian American, and talks about his Anglo-Saxon and 
"American Americans, ' ' the Globe better take a few lessons 
first in the history and development of this great and good 
country; in the upbuilding and uplifting of which the hyphen- 
ated Germans, Austrians and Hungarians always have done, 
and will always do, their share — and if, in the Globe's efforts 
to learn something, it's not capable to rise to the qualification 
of editing a real American newspaper and comprehend what 
real " neutrality' ' means, then the Globe better get out. of the 
newspaper business, in which it is a failure, and stick to the 
fish business, in which it seems to be quite resourceful and suc- 
cessful. 

A cable dispatch was printed in the newspapers the other 
day saying that while Europe is fighting and America selling 
war material, "Japan is feverishly engaged in ship building 
and has now under way 168,000 tons of shipping!" 

The Japanese are not building ships for amusement or be- 
cause they are fond of salt air. The same desperate energy 
that the little people have always shown is at work now. 

At the San Francisco Exposition one could see the wonderful 
ships moved by hand power that the Japanese nobles built for 
battle years ago, before they knew anything about Europe, be- 
fore they had heard of steam. 

All the bottled-up energy of centuries now let loose in Japan 
goes into steamship building, army drilling, preparing for war, 
subduing China, making one great Japanese-ruled empire of 
Asia, its wealth and its millions. 

Why does Japan work in this way? 

We Americans feel safe, peaceful and conceited as we sell 
to Europe tools with which they murder each other and as we 
say to ourselves, ' ' We are too big to be in danger. ' ' 

We would feel differently if we knew that Japan, represent- 
ing all Asia, all the yellow people, had decided that the moment 
had arrived to make the attack, to make both sides of the Pacific 
Japanese. 

Some think and say that she could not land. Indeed, she 
might. 

At present she has a treaty of friendship with England and 
fighting Germany in the East, she has earned English gratitude. 



CHAPTER LVIII 
England's "Big Stick." 

Suppose that England should come out of this great war 
victorious and naturally coldly indifferent to the United States. 
In her heart she feels that we ought to have been fighting with 
her and resents our neutrality. 

Suppose England and her allies were victorious in Europe; 
suppose that little Japan, ruling and using China, should say 
to the English, "We helped you. The least you can do is sit 
still while we go over and take the conceit out of Uncle Sam." 

Does anyone think the English would offer any great opposi- 
tion to that suggestion? 

Does anyone think the English would be any more worried 
by news of what the Japanese were planning, or doing, to us 
than we have been worried about the attacks upon England? 

Could we blame the English if they said, "We are sorry, 
but we must remain severely neutral, as you did"? 

Could we expect, could we be quite sure that the English 
would use all their energies to keep the Japanese from attack- 
ing us across the Canadian border? 

And have we any reason to believe that the Japanese, ' ' fever- 
ishly building ships," would have much trouble persuading the 
Mexicans to let them land and attack us on the Mexican border? 

When the American Consul at Tampico used every effort to 
retain Admiral Mayo and the Des Moines at Tampico, for 
the protection of more than 2,000 American men, women and 
children, even to the extent of commanding, by liis consular 
authority, that the Americans be not left to almost certain mas- 
sacre, the Admiral steamed away, following instructions from 
Washington. 

That the expected massacre did not follow was due to the 
action of Captain Kohler of the German cruiser Dresden, later 
of the Karlsruhe, who, on his own initiative, offered asylum to 
American women and children. When commanders of other for- 
eign cruisers in this port refused to join him in dispersing the 
mobs that threatened Americans, this captain, "in the name of 
humanity," notified Governor Zaragoza that if American blood 
was shed he would land his marines with machine guns and 
sweep the streets. 

This was none too soon, for at that very time the mob was 

182 



NEUTRALITY 183 

making its third and most determined attack upon the Hotel 
Southern, wherein were concentrated 150 Americans, of whom 
fifty were women and children. 

And lo, behold! When later on the very same Dresden 
was sunk by the English fleet the "Al-lies" papers gloried in 
announcing, in the biggest, blackest type, the sad fate of that 
boat which served as an asylum for the hard-pressed Ameri- 
can men, women and children. But, of course, that was " neu- 
trality" of the ''Janus" double-faced American kind. . 

It is the opinion of the foremost authorities on the Panama 
Canal that that body of water has put the United States in a 
position where it can no longer dodge the issues of world pol- 
itics. They call attention to May, 1913, when United States 
soldiers day and night manned the guns in Manila Bay, when 
the harbor was mined, troops sent out and the country on the 
verge of war with Japan. 

They say that since then England has been interceding with 
Japan over the California question and that the price of her 
intercession was the giving up of our rights in the Panama 
Canal. They point out that in June, 1913, a month after the 
Manila incident, President Wilson demanded from Congress 
the revocation of the coasting privilege and said that he "really 
would not know how to handle matters of a more delicate char- 
acter in case Congress might refuse to gratify his wishes about 
the Panama Canal." 

Major Von Herwarth, one of the foremost German military 
writers, charges that in this case England used Japan as a club 
over the United States. The disclosure of the May situation in 
Manila confirms the President's desire to avoid any friction 
with England. Von Herwarth says that he avoided it for a 
time, but only for the time. And the price he paid was high. 
He pointed out that the British Government announced through 
Winston Churchill that it would be the policy of that country 
to control the world's petroleum sources around important 
strategic places. 

Japan has put her big neighbor, China, on her knees; she 
has driven Russia back into Asia; she is now driving Germany 
out of the East, and when she is ready she will strike us. 

Our Philippines are within striking distance of Japan; she 
can deliver her blow with her army and navy inside of two 
days; her potential armies are already in Hawaii, and we are 
depending on luck and friends to supply what our neglect has 
deprived us of. Our canal is still unfortified ; our fleets are on 



184 NEUTRALITY 

the Atlantic; our Pacific possessions, like onr Pacific coast, are 
practically defenseless, and we refuse to make our army a re- 
spectable force and waste our money in the sinkholes of the 
South. 

" Truth' ' says, moreover, that while we think little of our 
Pacific possessions now, some of us being glad to give them away, 
we would all fight like wildcats if they were taken from us by 
force. And what could be more true, at least to those who know 
Japan and the Japanese well, than these words: 

"The best way to keep Japan pleasant and peaceful is to 
provide a well-equipped army and navy, big enough and efficient 
enough for all emergencies. Then the painful and bitter griev- 
ances she has against a big, fat, rich, unprepared country will 
be mere trifles between well-armed, well-equipped friends. A 
country like America, that has a long tongue and an uncivil 
one, should have a long sword, a long purse and a long memory ; 
and she should keep her eyes open. 

"Japan is a nice, smooth-spoken, courteous country, but as 
a matter of taste I prefer to walk behind and not before her." 

The Shalers, Eussells, Holts, Gulicks, Jordans et id omne 
genii prate and prose to us of Japan's altruistic and peaceful 
yearnings of eternal friendship with the white peoples, and par- 
ticularly with us white people grouped under the American 
flag. And each of them is a fool of his own degree. 

Japan means to seize China as she seized Korea, with lies 
on her lips and cruel determination in her heart. 

She means to establish her hegemony in Asia, to eke out 
her poverty with China's untold millions of raw wealth; to grow 
and to strengthen herself while mad Europe wastes her strength 
and wealth. 

Then Japan will strike and strike desperately for the hege- 
mony, not of Asia and the Pacific, but of Asia and the Pacific 
of America, with the consequent domination of the whole world. 

"Patient, cautious, faithless, having neither any fear nor 
any scruples; destitute of honor or morality; cunning and be- 
yond question fanatically courageous ; hating the white man and 
all his ways and works in her heart of hearts, Japan stands 
upon the threshold of the coming centuries, a menacing and 
portentous figure of incarnated militarism and conquest," says 
Hearst's Chicago American. 



CHAPTER LIX 
England Our Enemy. 

"IN SPITE OF TREATIES ENGLAND IS STILL OUR 

ENEMY," said Thomas Jefferson, and it ought to remind Mr. 
Wilson, the New York Times, the New York Sun, the New York 
Tribune and the American Tory mouthpieces of the British For- 
eign Office that General George Washington and Thomas Jeffer- 
son fought the same enemy, against whom Germany and the Ger- 
man people are today defending their national existence — the 
same enemy who attacked us again in 1812 and wantonly burned 
the National Capitol and looted the White House, treacherously 
destroyed our commerce in 1865 and openly attacked the Mon- 
roe doctrine in Venezuela — the enemy whom Dr. Eliot, Theo- 
dore Roosevelt and the Boston school of statement today urge 
us to aid with our army and navy, as thousands of manufac- 
turers of guns, powder and munitions of war are aiding, and to 
whom the Washington administration is giving comfort under 
a proclamation of neutrality interpreted for them by Mr. 
Spring-Rice, the British Ambassador. 

The pages of American history are blank, eloquently blank, 
on one point: England's share in the making of the United 
States. What we are as a nation, we have had to wrest from 
her in cruel war. 

England did not discover this continent. It settled New 
England and old Virginia; that is all. New York was not 
founded by England, nor was New Orleans, nor St. Louis, nor 
Louisiana, nor Delaware, nor Rhode Island, nor the Mohawk 
Valley, nor Pennsylvania, nor Wisconsin, nor Minnesota, nor 
California ! 

Germans, Austro-Hungarians and others had their share in 
the settlement of this country. They helped to develop it, cul- 
tivate it, educate it and fight for it. They helped to make its 
history and are entitled to something more than toleration. 
Above all, they are entitled to representation and a voice in the 
official deliverances of this government on the great questions 
which concern the future welfare of the country for which our 
ancestors shed their blood. 

In our educational system German influence has been para- 
mount from the kindergarten to the university. Christopher 
Dock wrote the first treatise on pedagogy which appeared in 

185 



186 NEUTEALITY 

America. The Germans devised Sunday schools. It may inter- 
est those who believe that all culture came from New England 
to know that the first young ladies' seminary in the United 
States was established by the Moravians at Bethlehem, Pa., in 
1749. 

In 1793 such a school was proposed at Plymouth, Mass., but 
the proposal was defeated, because in such a school women 
might become more learned than their future husbands. Women 
teachers were first employed in Pennsylvania high-grade schools. 
The first normal school department in America was established 
at Nazareth Hall, a Moravian institution, in 1807. "Intellectu- 
ally, Germany lias been to us a motherland." 

1 ' They say we are an English nation, ' ' writes the He v. Wil- 
liam Griffis, D. D., "and they attempt to derive our institutions 
from England, notwithstanding that our institutions which are 
mostly truly American were never in England. Our historians 
copy English models, and think that in our political develop- 
ment we are English." 

CHAPTER LX 

The Loan. 

Dr. John William Burgess, greatest authority on interna- 
tional law, whose text books are in all universities, says that 
the "English constitution is like the Russian constitution," and 
surely Dr. Burgess is sufficient authority for all of us. He ought 
to know what he is talking about, and knows at least as much as 
our graduated editors from the Pupin school of Pulitzer journal- 
ism. This is what Prof. Burgess says of the $500,000,000 
Allies ' loan : 

"Stripped now of all jugglery, hocus-pocus and hypocrisy, 
the transaction proposed by the Anglo-Franco Borrowing Com- 
mission to the Government, the capitalists and the people of the 
country is a loan, a loan without collateral, a war risk, the ulti- 
mate payment of which by the borrower will probably depend 
upon the ability of the Anglo-Franco-Russ combine to crush 
Germany and Austria-Hungary, kill the resisting part of their 
population, and reduce the rest to poverty and want for all time 
by the collection of a huge and continuous war indemnity from 
them; and every man who takes a dollar of this proposed loan 
makes himself selfishly interested in the success of such a pro- 
gram. 



NEUTEALITY 187 

"There is not the slightest evidence in sight that they will 
crush the Central Empire and make them pay a war indemnity 
with which to cover this proposed loan, to say nothing of future 
loans, and there are many ominous signs of social revolution 
in both Great Britain and Russia. 

"The ultimate result of all this would be the most gigantic 
and sweeping transfer of the wealth of this country — that is, 
what might be left of it — from the pockets of the men of small 
and moderate means into the coffers of the few enormously rich 
which the history of this or any other country has ever known. ' ' 

The spirit of these sound financial and political utterances 
and patriotic warnings must have gone through the mind of 
our President when the loan sought in this country was a Ger- 
man one, because the Democratic campaign book — the supposed 
bible of our strenuously and faithfully democratic President 
declared : 

"It is inconsistent with the spirit of neutrality for a neutral 
nation to make loans to belligerent nations, for money is the 
worst contraband. It commands all other things." 

Now that the Allies sought and got the loan, our God-fear- 
ing Mr. Wilson has changed his faith — changed his God and is 
worshiping with a new Bible in his hand, the text of which he 
takes, as he himself admitted it, "from the columns of the Lon- 
don Weekly Times." 

Would George Washington, would Jefferson, would Abraham 
Lincoln, would Cleveland, or a McKinley be found on the side 
of England against Germany, if they were alive today? No! 

Would George Washington, would Abraham Lincoln be sup- 
plying arms and ammunition and loaning money to the English 
if they were alive today ? We all know they would not, so why 
should the present holder of the chair in the White House act 
differently — he the author of the "History of the United 
States' ' and twice chronicler of all the perfidy and crimes Eng- 
land committed, and continues to commit, against our com- 
merce, laws, safety, peace and flag? 



CHAPTER LXI 
The "Billet-Doux" to England. 

While Mr. Wilson was in a frightful haste to dispatch the 
government notes and bully Germany with them for her alleged 
wrong doings, it took one year to dispatch a pleasant note to 
England reminding her that we are still a nation. 

The President took a long time to voice American sentiment 
and American determination in denying Great Britain's right 
to supervise, hinder or destroy our commerce with neutral, 
friendly nations. 

No American will for a moment admit the preposterous as- 
sumption of England that a belligerent power has the right to 
intercept and destroy the commerce of neutral nations. 

The amazing thing is that the Administration has permitted 
this illegal and intolerable thing to be done for more than a 
year without any determined assertion of our rights or any 
effective veto upon the injurious practice. 

It does seem that American commerce might have been pro- 
tected by the American Government without waiting until that 
commerce had been effectually crippled. 

It does seem that our government might have interfered to 
stop these practices of belligerents without waiting until the 
belligerents had done all the damage to our commerce which 
they were inclined to do. 

For these many months the commerce of the United States 
with Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Holland has been driven 
from the seas by the British navy. 

Had we been at war with Great Britain she could not have 
destroyed our trade with these neutral and friendly nations 
much more completely. 

The British government has assumed that the high seas are 
British territory and that they can be used by America and 
other countries only by permission of and under the regula- 
tions of the British Admiralty. 

Every morning we must take our hats off to the English con- 
sul and call and inquire what liberties we may enjoy during 
the next 24 hours. We cannot send a ship load of produce to 
any point of the compass unless that ship has England's 0. K. 
nailed to its manifest. Vessels flying the American flag are 
held up by England on the high seas, convoyed into an English 

188 



NEUTEALITY 189 

port and ship and cargo confiscated and the owners told to go 
to the devil for redress. England censors the note sent by our 
government to England but accentuates the phrases of the notes 
sent to Germany or Austria ! England wants the sound hyphen 
tooth extracted, but will not allow the forceps of diplomacy 
within a mile of her own rotten molars. 

This is a damnable, intolerable assumption. It strikes 
straight at the heart of our sovereignty. It is a far more dan- 
gerous blow at our dignity and our rights than isolated injuries 
inflicted unintentionally by Germany upon a ship here or there. 
And if Senator John Sharp Williams were an American at heart 
he would remember that! 

That any power should assume the hegemony of the oceans 
is unendurable. That's Germany's contention, and that's why 
she is fighting. 

The interests of the United States are clearly with Germany. 
German triumph means the handing to the United States the 
supremacy of the seas; for, standing between Europe and the 
Orient, the United States should be the clearing house of three 
continents. It means relieving any apprehension whatever of 
German colonization in South America, that great bugaboo of 
British invention. It means the bottling up of Russian naval 
ambitions, which with that country 's greater sources would soon, 
in conjunction with its ally, Japan, threaten the United States. 

The United States cannot and will not endure the assump- 
tion of sea hegemony by England, remember this, Senator 
Williams ! 

We did not endure it in 1807 or after ! 

We shall not endure it in 1916 ! 

Wouldn't it be a good example if the Administration would 
only show a flash here and there of true Americanism and less 
crooking of the knee hinges to the decaying kingdom of King 
George ? England threatened and Cleveland said : ' ' Keep your 
battleships away from South America if you wish to have them 
stay on the surface of the ocean. The water is deep down 
there.' ' And England said he was only joking. 

The zeal of true Americanism was stamped on the bill for 
damages which we sent to England at the close of the Civil 
War. The Alabama claims were as nauseous to England as a 
dose of unadulterated castor oil is to a kid, but she had to 
"down" it. The first bill we sent in that case needed no second 
" representation. ' ' When Napoleon the Third was ordered out 
of Mexico it did not become necessary to send a second " rep- 
resentation' ' either. At the first order to "git," he "got." 



190 NEUTEALITY 

Spain would not listen to reason and McKinley shot her to 
pieces. France once owed us a bill and for several years we 
tried to collect it, but received only promises. Then a true 
American, Andrew Jackson by name, took the foremanship of 
the government. He sent the bill, accompanied by a few signifi- 
cant remarks, such as : " If the amount called for in this bill 
is not found in return mail, by the Eternal, I am coming over 
there in person and make the collection. ' ' 

It came, and Jackson set out the best vintage he had and 
said: "Boys, have one on me. I knew I'd make them French 
pay up." This might be said much more elegantly but much 
less to the point. It may be ungrammatical, but it is true Amer- 
icanism. How many times would the shippers of America have 
to plead with Andrew Jackson for protection? Just once, and 
not that once, if Jackson was the first to get the particulars. 

The highest quality in the character of a people is love of 
justice. In the emphatic words of President James Madison: 
"It has been the glory of the United States to cultivate peace 
by observing justice and to entitle themselves to the respect of 
the nations at war by fulfilling their neutral obligations with 
the most scrupulous impartiality. ' ' Have we done it? 

We cannot be impartial toward the nations now at war unless 
we demand of, and enforce upon, Great Britain the same re- 
spectful consideration of American rights that we demanded of 
and enforced upon Germany. Did we do it? 

As it was in the days of President Madison, so it must still 
continue to be the glory of the United States to cultivate peace 
by observing justice. And what is justice but an even hand, like 
treatment and fair play to one and to all ? ^ 

In Mexico they are killing American men, women and chil- 
dren; they took Private Richard Johnson of the third United 
States Cavalry Regiment, abducted him from American soil, 
tortured and then slaughtered him. They carried his severed 
head on a pole as a triumphant trophy of American weakness. 
What has Mr. Wilson done about it? Nothing! And we are 
daily asked to admire the " determination ' ' with which our 
President maintains American honor and rights! Has it been 
maintained against the shameless interference on the part of 
England against our commerce, against our rigJits to use tlie 
sea? 

In the face of the current clamor against the hyphenated 
citizenship, is there nothing to be said against that kind of 
hyphenated neutrality which, placing us practically by the side 



NEUTRALITY 191 

of Great Britain as an ally, secures from her no respect for our 
rights upon the high seas as a neutral nation? 

Must we stand for this ? Is this what our forefathers fought 
for ? Is this that much-heralded American independence ? And 
must, or shall, we American citizens stand by an administration 
which, instead of protecting the honor of the flag, is dishonoring 
it by its subservience to English dictation and arrogance? 

"Al-lies" papers in America urge the people to ''support 
the President whatever he may do. ' ■ Is this the duty of democ- 
racy? Why should the people meekly resign their wills and 
reasoning powers to a man who but three years ago was a pri- 
vate citizen, and who, we hope, will soon again become one? 
Has the American republic lost its right to criticise one who is, 
after all, its servant? Why all this breathless waiting to see 
what the President will say? Why not indicate to him plainly 
what we expect him to do, to earn his salary and keep the coun- 
try out of peril? 

"Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, 
That he hath grown so great?" 

"If Americans see that their Chief Magistrate is leading 
them into the wake of Italy and other fatally misguided states, 
which have been bribed or bullied by Great Britain into fighting 
for her, tliey should impeach him for betraying their real in- 
terests. It is time for those whose ancestors originally fought 
for independence from the British yoke, and later for the pres- 
ervation of the Union which England longed to see destroyed, 
to call those Anglophiles by their right name," writes John L. 
Stoddard in a letter addressed to and printed in the well-known, 
brilliant periodical called The Vital Issue — now renamed Issues 
and Events. The writer's opinion is that he may not be im- 
peached by Congress, but he will not escape the impeachment 
of history. 

Frank S. Monnett, former attorney-general of Ohio was not 
very unjust when he said: 

"Some unseen forces have now gained power again in the 
government. A professor of theoretical peace and the apostle 
of greater liberty has fallen into the camp of the Philistines. 
He is dining with his feet under the mahogany of the Manhattan 
club. He is listening to the ambassadors of the plutocrats and 
of the monopolies. He is now drinking in the applause of those 
who would weed out of the country the hyphenated American 
and the thrifty German. He has out-Heroded Herod in asking 
for a one billion appropriation for the next ten years to out- 



192 NEUTKALITY 

rival England, Germany and France combined in magnificent 
military display of obsolete dreadnoughts. 

"We must save the president and his advisers if we can 
from the apostles of hate, from the beneficiaries of blood money, 
from the malefactors of racial hate. If he will not heed we must 
rise with such mighty protest that he and his ilk will be forever 
driven from public life." 

"No economist or writer has yet demonstrated that a neu- 
tral nation is justified in using all her corporate powers, her 
financial aid, her manufacturing plants, her railroads, her bank- 
ing interests, to turn out destructive munitions of war for the 
express purpose of snuffing out the lives of a. people with whom 
we have no quarrels, for the simple and sole purpose of getting 
an enormous temporary profit for a few favorite plunderers. ' ' 

The British order in council forbids the United States to 
ship any goods of any kind, contraband by the recognized law 
of nations, or not contraband, to Germany, Austria or Turkey, 
or to buy any goods from either of those countries. In addi- 
tion, the United States is forbidden to ship manufactured goods 
or foodstuffs to Italy, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark or 
any other neutral country when, in the opinion of British naval 
officers, these shipments might afterwards find their way from 
the neutral country to Germany or Austria. 

We must go back over one hundred years to find a parallel 
to this extraordinary assumption that one power has dictatorial 
authority over the commerce of the high seas. In 1807 the Brit- 
ish Government, by orders in council, forbade the United States 
to ship any goods to any country in Europe, except Sweden, 
on the ground that goods shipped to any other country might 
be of use to Prance in her war with Great Britain. 

The indignation aroused in this country was great. The 
first reply to the British orders was made in December, 1807, 
when Congress instructed President Jefferson to lay an embargo, 
forbidding foreign commerce of any hind. The embargo re- 
mained in force throughout the year 1808, when it was suc- 
ceeded by the non-intercourse law, by which American trade 
was permitted with all countries except Great Britain and 
France, each of these antagonists having assumed to forbid 
American commerce with the other. 

And now, again, after the lapse of more than one hundred 
years, this nation is face to face with the same pretensions, the 
sa/me decrees and orders, the same insolent suggestions, the same 



NEUTEALITY 193 

intolerable seizure of its peaceful trading ships which roused 
our fathers to hot indignation and to war. Not one single con- 
dition is changed, except that Germany has taken the place of 
France as the antagonist of England. 

And as the conditions are the same, so it is clear that the 
possible courses of action are the same which were open to our 
fathers. 

We cannot submit to orders of foreign powers, permit our 
neutral commerce to be destroyed, our flag to be insulted and de- 
graded, to the office of disguising foreign ships and become con- 
temptible in the eyes of the whole sneering world. 

We can declare war upon any power that molests commerce 
voyaging under the American flag. We declared war upon the 
same motive in 1812 ! 

What has the President of the United States in the year of 
our Lord of 1915 done — on the same issue? He sent a note! A 
note of "protest." Such a dear lovely note ! A "billet doux" 
could not be more tenderly worded. It took almost one year to 
compose this letter of love. To the Kaiser the note was scowling, 
malevolent, glowering and threatening ; to King George, smiling, 
apologetic, like the love missive of a lovesick schoolboy to his 
girl "protesting" because she flirts with another fellow, but at 
the same time not "kicking" enough to anger her. Anyone who 
never saw Mr. Wilson or his handsome features would think that 
the President of the United States is a modern Janus. His neu- 
trality has two faces. One sweet, benevolent, turned smilingly 
towards England; the other sour, hard, glaring furiously to- 
wards the Kaiser. 

Why were threatening notes sent to Germany about question- 
able rights when weak protests go to England concerning the 
recognition of our sovereignty and independence? 

Now, where do we find that energetic protest against England 
to keep her hands off the neutral trade of the United States? 
Where is the hint that an energetic action will follow if our 
claims are not granted? The tame tone of the note will encour- 
age England to continue its illegal acts, rather than to stop 
them. Mr. Lansing convinces England that no action will fol- 
low the words and in America it excites suspicion that the note 
rather will lull us into security, as it will intimidate England. 

Even the New York World gets excited about the tame tone 
of the note. This pro-British paper said : 

' ' On such a showing of outrage as is here made, the terms of 
the American protest, which are lawyer-like throughout, must be 



194 NEUTRALITY 

regarded as exceedingly temperate. To gain a military advan- 
tage more or less important, Great Britain has become a grievous 
offender against laws, against its own cherished principles, 
against several of the small nations of Europe, which it has as- 
sumed to champion and against the best and most powerful 
friend that it has among the neutrals of the earth. It has not 
killed Americans, it has killed American rights. It has done 
more than seize American property; IT HAS SEIZED THE 
OPPORTUNITY THUS WANTONLY GAINED TO EXTEND 
ITS OWN TRADE." 

Obviously, our most furious opponents begin to perceive that 
our point of view was right, that " America first" not only 
should be preached, but also practiced. 

CHAPTER LXII 
Big- Words— That's All! 

An editorial in Hearst's Chicago Examiner sums up most 
cleverly, most justly and most patriotically the moral as well as 
the practical value of the note. The editorial is headed : ' ' Fine 
Diplomatic Note Amounts to Nothing If Not Enforced" — and 
reads as follows: 

"The note to England is all that a note ought to be, with two 
exceptions. One of these is that it was finished, dated and deliv- 
ered nearly a year after it should have been. 

The other is that nothing in the tone or wording of the note 
would lead England, or America either, to suspect even that 
the administration means to DO ANYTHING to compel Eng- 
land to let our commerce alone. 

Mr. Lansing's thunder is very well-hebaved thunder. It 
roars no louder than Mr. Bryan's suckling dove. 

No one can fail to be struck by the marked difference in the 
tone of the acrid and peremptory notes dispatched to Germany 
and to Austria by Mr. Wilson's direction and the tone of this 
polite communication. Possibly this is due to the fact that it 
took the State Department the better part of a year to write 
the note to England. Time is a great smoother of bad temper. 

The aggressions of Great Britain upon our neutral commerce 
and neutral rights began in August, 1914, were increased by an 
Order in Council dated October 29, 1914, and passed all bounds 
of comity and international law after March 11, 1915. 

On that date, the British Government practically abrogated 
the law of nations, annulled the Declaration of Paris, the decv- 



NEUTEALITY 195 

sions of The Hague Conferences, the provisions of the Declara- 
tion of London and all the contentions of British Foreign 
Affairs Minister during the Boer war and the Russo-Japanese 
war, and assumed dictatorship over all commerce of all nations. 
This included our own commerce with neutral nations and their 
commerce with us. 

And that dictatorship England has enforced with a high 
hand for eight months, TO THE PRACTICAL DESTRUC- 
TION OF OUR TRADE WITH THE NEUTRAL KINGDOMS 
OF HOLLAND, DENMARK, SWEDEN AND NORWAY, and 
to the heavy injury of American importers who have purchased 
noncontraband goods from Germany and Austria in good faith 
and under every guarantee of international law. 

From March 11, 1915. to June 17, 1915, there were seized 
and taken into the British port of Kirkwall ITWC \HUNDRED 
AND SEVENTY-SIX NEUTRAL AMERICAN, DUTCH AND 
SCANDINAVIAN SHIPS CARRYING AMERICAN CAR- 

GOES. . 

And here we have Mr. Secretary Lansing, on October 41, 
1915 firmly but gently representing to the British Government 
that the government of the United States considers the conduct 
of the British navy toward American ships to be quite rude. 

We suspect that Sir Edward Grey, after some time, will 
reply that he deeply regrets that His Britannic Majesty s gov- 
ernment is unable to take the sarnie view of the case as that 
taken by the government of the United States, and suggests 
that the matters at issue be referred to an arbitration tribunal 
at The Hague after the conclusion of hostilities. 

Whereupon, since the Department of State, under Mr. Wil- 
son's direction, has never shown the slightest inclination to pro- 
tect American commerce against BRITISH aggression bij either 
a menace of force or of retaliation, we suppose that Mr. Lansing 
ivill be directed to draw up another note. By which time either 
the war will be over or there will not be any American seagoing 
commerce left to protect. 

The note to England is an absolutely accurate presentation 
of our wrongs and injuries. But that is all it is. 

It will get our commerce nowhere until England is pleased 
to let our commerce go on its voyages. 

And it will get our commerce nowhere because nobody, eit tier 
in England or at home, has any reason to he }l^\^tJ h ^NC 
ministration will take a step or lift a finger TO MAKE ENG- 
LAND keep hands off our commerce. 



196 NEUTKALXTY 

We know of nothing more foolish in the world than big words 
with no purpose to bach them up. 

The administration's attitude toward England's indefensible 
and intolerable aggressions upon our peaceful commerce irre- 
sistibly reminds us of the military practice of the Aleut tribes , 
who wage war by squatting on opposite banks of a creek and 
making faces at each other until one side or the other is ex- 
hausted. 

We have never had an administration more fertile of fine 
phrases than the present administration. It flows with a full 
flood of words on any provocation, or on no provocation. The 
ultimatums and notes that have been issued in the past three 
years are legion, because no man can number them. 

And the absurd and almost irritating thing is nothing has 
ever corne of them, if we except Germany's very clever diplo- 
matic concession to American public opinion. 

Vltimatums to Mexico filled the air for months. Notes to 
England were for a time thick as blackberries. They were 
"very solemnly assured" and "very firmly told" and "very 
vigorously warned" what might happen if they continued to 
do this or that. 

Mexicans kept right on butchering Americans, and British 
cruisers kept right on seizing American ships, and NOTHING 
HAS HAPPENED to either one of them. 

The administration TALKS of protection to American lives 
and property in Mexico, but no American's life or property IS 
PROTECTED in Mexico. 

The administration TALKS of protection to American ships 
and American cargoes on the high seas, but no American ship 
or cargo IS PROTECTED on the high seas. 

The Examiner highly approves of the language of the note 
to England. It sincerely hopes that the note will not turn out 
to be ONLY LANGUAGE. 

We hope that for once the administration will ACT upon 
its statement. But we fear that it is hope of the kind which, 
when it has been long enough deferred, maketh sick the heart. 

Yet, surely if ever a high-spirited and strong people had 
occasion given them to expect their government both to speak 
and to act vigorously and peremptorily, the manifold injuries 
and aggressions inflicted upon our commerce and the contempt 
directed at our independent sovereignty by the British Admir- 
alty during twelve shameful months have given that occasion. 
"What the American people want from its President is not 
rhetoric, but ACTION/' 



CHAPTER LXIII 

The Crack in the Bell. 

A few months ago the country was given another chance 
to see, to be thrilled and to be educated by the triumphal tour 
to San Francisco of the greatest and most treasured relic of our 
liberty and independence from English tyranny — the tour of 
the Liberty Bell! 




Liberty Bell. 

"The Liberty Bell," said Speaker Champ Clark in his San 
Francisco address on Liberty Day, "is a precious relic of the 
days that tried men's souls, ineffably dear to the heart of every 
American worthy of his rich heritage of freedom — a most highly 
prized physical accessory of the most stupendous and beneficent 
political drama in the entire history of the human race. From 
its brazen throat rang forth the startling message to all nations, 
kindreds and tongues that here in this western world a handful 
of brave and self-respecting people, weary of tyranny from 
across the sea, were establishing a new government. ' ' 

The Government was that of George Washington, Abraham 
Lincoln, Grover Cleveland and the other patriotic presidents, 
who understood the full meaning of the message that the voice 
of that bell conveyed to every American man, woman and 
schoolboy. What message do the acts of the British Govern- 
ment depicted on the illustration convey to us? Is this our 
liberty and freedom which we rung from "the tyranny from 
across the sea?" Not to the mind of any patriotic American. 
No wonder that the bell is cracked ! . . . 

"Neutrality is neutrality," says the "neutral" New York 
World. "It can play no favorites. It can recognize no special 
privileges. It can discriminate in favor of neither Greek nor 
Trojan. Any other kind of neutrality would be a living crime 

197 



198 



NEUTEALITY ^ 



against the great principles of international justice, for which 
the United States and Great Britain are the chief trustees for 
civilization." 

"Great Britain the trustee of the great principles on inter- 
national justice." Now wouldn't that make a horse laugh! 

"The Tyranny from accross the sea." ■ ^ ne New York World 

has irom the beginning of the 
war," says "The Fatherland/ 
"perverted the legitimate 
activities of Germany's repre- 
sentatives into sinister con- 
spiracies against the peace of 
this country. 

"The New York World in 
its news columns and in its 
editorials makes itself the ad- 
vocate of murder on a large 
scale by opposing the embargo 
on the tools of destruction, 
hollering, 'NEUTRALITY IS 
NEUTRALITY.' 

"Well, if the faith of his 
ancestors is not entirely dead 
in Mr. Pulitzer, we would like 

to call to his attention three commandments which his newspaper 

evidently ignores : 

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 

"Thou shalt not steal. 

"Thou shalt not kill. 

* ' Evidently, the New York World regards the ten command- 
ments as a scrap of paper." 

Acting upon her wonderful conception of "neutrality," the 
World, as well as some of its contemporaries, who belong to 
the same highly principled neutral gang that taught us that 
when the Allies "advance" they "hurl back the Germans," 
but when the Germans "advance" the allies retain their posi- 
tions. 

When the Austrians took possession of Belgrade the Servi- 
ans "evacuated" the town, leaving it in command of the Aus- 
trians. There was no "great military achievement" in captur- 
ing it, but when the Kussians took Lemberg, which they sub- 
sequently lost, it was captured by "a stroke of military genius." 




— N. 



World 



XL S. to J. B. — Drop it — didn't you hear 
the Liberty Bell ring? 



NEUTRALITY 199 

When General Joffre "retreats," he merely "changes his posi- 
tion" to a more advantageous one; when General von Kluck 
retreats, his forces are "most disgracefully and disastrously 
routed." The German Crown Prince has been captured nine- 
teen times and killed twenty-three times. The Kaiser was dying 
with cancer one day, lost his blue coat next day, and was nearly 
captured at Warsaw the third day. 

The "Al-lies" papers tell us that: Austria has signed a 
treaty of peace with Russia, and the Russians, having captured 
4,000,000 Germans, are "marching on Berlin 8,000,000 strong." 
The World seriously states: "Sir Edward Grey and Premier 
Asquith have already decided to give Germany the same plan 
of home rule as has been accorded to Ireland." 

According to the World, Times, Herald, Sun and other "Al- 
lies" papers, if England sinks a German fishing boat, "Brit- 
tannia rules the waves," but when Germany torpedoes an Eng- 
lish cruiser Germany "waives the rules" of civilized naval 
warfare. These papers tell us the Turks have forced Moham- 
medanism on the whole German Empire and the Kaiser has 
ordered the churches destroyed and mosques built in their 
places. 

Schools are being established in Belgium by the "Allies" 
for the 10,000,000 "handless" children. They will be taught 
how to sew, cook, plow, etc., with their feet, and as it won't do 
for the Kaiser to shoot 100 more socialists, and the Bavarians 
don't want to fight the Prussians, nor are the Hungarians will- 
ing to rebel against the Austrians, and because these papers 
lack further atrocity stories of the "Barbarians," they say that 
the six sons of the Kaiser have mutinied, refusing obeisance to 
the "War Lord!" Next, we shall hear the Empress is getting 
a divorce ! 

Lies, lies, and nothing but lies! The most absurd and fake 
stories, distorted, malicious, prejudiced and partisan news, which 
come by the way of England 's monopolized cable to New York, 
where they receive a slimy unction from the Herald and the 
World, the Sun, the Press, or to Boston, where the debased helot 
who directs the British Transcript, casts his verbal whitewash 
over the maligned, misunderstood Cossack, or to Providence, 
where that Australian hireling is conducting his nefarious work 
as an agent provocateur. 

Ah! the immortality of the lie! This upas tree has the 
habit of the banyan, whose branches take root in the soil, then 
spring hideously aloft as trunks. And in these black colon- 



200 



NEUTEALITY 



ades the reason of these editors has been erring for over a year. 
Not even the sharp, bright sword of the German " Michel' ' has 
availed to cut through the horrible thickets. . . . 



CHAPTER LXIV 

Poor Little Greece. 

The most flagrant exposition of the double-faced Janus-like 
" neutrality " of the "Al-lies" papers was the manifestation 
of the treatment by this press of the violated neutrality of 
Greece. At the hour of this writing the Allies landed their 
hordes upon Greece's soil, an act which constitutes a gross 
breach in Greece 's neutrality. It amounts to an insolent, impu- 
dent, contemptible and unnecessary action on the part of the 
Allies. 

We remember the outcry of horror and indignation that 
swept through the American press like a Texas cyclone because 
Germany, forced by the dire necessity of self-preservation, was 
forced to disrespect the theoretical neutrality of Belgium. 

We remember how effectively England and her allies used 
our press to arouse the sympathy of civilized mankind, and par- 
ticularly our sympathies for "poor little Belgium." The Ger- 
man declaration that England and France intended themselves 
to use Belgium as a highway of invasion was not only ridiculed 

by the American press, but 
branded as a sheap contempt- 
ible excuse for their "barbar- 
' conduct. 



lan 

Now that the shoe is on the 
other foot, that the Allies, in 
spite of their sanctimonious 
declarations that powerful 
nations owe it to the weak 
and smaller nations to respect 
their independence, liberty 
and neutrality — and in spite 
of the energetic protest of 
the Greek Government — have 
themselves most wantonly and 
arrogantly abused their power 
to invade neutral Greece — 
the American "Al-lies" press 




— Vital Issue. 

Allies Violating the Neutral- 



Extra : 
ity of Greece 
Not a Word!" 



Am. Ed.: "Psht! 



NEUTEALITY 



201 



so far failed to comment editorially on this violation— failed to 
cry out with a bleeding heart in sympathy for the poor little 
Macedonians ! ' ' 

It simply goes to prove that to the " Al-lies" press of Amer- 
ica the violation of Belgium's neutrality by the Germans was 
a hideous offense against Freedom, Liberty and Civilization, but 
the violation of Greece's neutrality by the Allies is a highly 
commendable proceeding and a "brilliant strategic move. 

Almost nothing appeared in the "Al-lies" P]^.?*,^* 
to this disgraceful breach of neutrality. Every Al-lie paper 
kept silent about it and vainly did we try to find editoria 1 com- 
ment in papers like the New York Times, Sun, Herald, Tribune, 
or in any other "Al-lies" papers, which never stopped their 
miserable, hypocritical howling and crocodile tears about the 
well-known "scrap of paper." 
And it is sad to think and 
to contemplate that there exist 
self-respecting, thinking, in- 
telligent American men or 
women who still allow them- 
selves to be guided and misled 
by these editorial Pharisees. 
Yet the abuse of Greece is far 
worse than the occupation of 
Belgian territory. Salonica is 
not adjacent to Great Britain 
or to France, neither country 
has a claim nor interest to 
that section, and the Greek 
Government has never ^ intri- 
gued against them, as did Bel- 
gium against Germany. There 
is not the slightest excuse for _ Fair piay N Y 
the action of the ' ' strange alii- J0HN BULL THE benevolent. 
ance" and it must be con- 

demned as the most damnable manifestation of brutal force. 
This is a disgraceful state of affairs, and proves more con- 
clusively than anything else the bias, prejudice and partiality 
of^ome of our journals when they should perform their destined 
function of bringing news impartially and disseminating know- 
eldge about its meaning. 

It proves also again that some of our vaunted free press is 




202 NEUTBALITY 

no longer free, but has allowed itself to be hired. The editors 
of many papers are no longer free men, but slaves. 

There remained in New York one or two papers which tried 
to preserve occasionally their normal sense of journalistic de- 
cency for actual facts and news. TJie Evening Post is one of 
them. Its publisher, Mr. Oswald Villard, is of German birth and 
was originally called Hilgard, a very respected name and fam- 
ily in the Rheinish provinces. 

The Evening Post, of course, had its lapses, too, but never- 
theless it has been trying very hard, despite the false reports 
from London, Paris and St. Petersburg, to tell the truth. When 
the German Government published documents discovered in 
Brussels proving the existence of, say, at least collusion between 
Belgium and the Allies, the Evening Post editor contended that 
this was not known to the invaders when they trampled upon 
"poor" Belgium; that, therefore, this late discovery could not 
be seriously considered as affecting the moral issue involved. 

If this recent argument of the Evening Post proves anything 
at all, it will prove that, when England violated Greek neutral- 
ity, it knew it was violating the neutrality of a friend, just as 
we now know it had reason to be convinced that if it would 
succeed in landing in Belgium first it would meet a friendly 
reception! It also proves that the Germans met a very hostile 
reception. 

In one instance we see Germany seeking admission, asking, 
imploring and guaranteeing immunity to a nation it had reason 
to suspect of being an enemy ; in the other we see England vio- 
lating the neutrality of a friendly nation and trying to bully it 
into a war which may spell ruin! 

The Post editor says : ' ' The population of Salonica received 
the Allies' troops in somewhat different spirit from the way 
Liege received the Germans.' ' 

According to this standard of morals, a criminal should 
go free if he can prove that his victim submitted to a violation 
it was unable to prevent. 

With the advent of Italy 's entry into the war, the New York 
Evening Post said that the methods used by the Allies to influ- 
ence public • opinion in Italy will some day make "interesting 
reading." Would the Post be interested in the methods used 
by the Allies to influence public opinion in America? Or is 
the Post interested in those methods? 

Mr. Villard, editor of this paper, made a very interesting 
speech before a large gathering at Stockbridge, Mass., and 




MOHAMMET V. 
Sultan of Turkey 



NEUTRALITY 



203 



wound up his speech by saying: "America is my country, and 
the love I bear for another land shall never blind me to its 
wrong doing, as, under heaven, my patriotism shall never make 
me defend America when she offends the laws of heaven or of 

Tn an • 

Has Mr. Villard been consistent in the practice of this prin- 
ciple? We have our doubts about it. 

CHAPTER LXV 
Champions. 



A very interesting piece of 
the headline artist's skill is 
this one from the St. Louis 
Globe Democrat: 
ALL DARDANELLES 
FORTS ARE REDUCED 
BY ALLIED WARSHIPS 



lemotrat 



ALL DARDANELLES 
FORTS REDUCED BY 




Gateway to Constantinople U 
Opened in Anglo-French 
Bombardment 

GERMANS CAPTURE BIG 

RUSSIAN PORT BY STORM 



—St. Louis Globe Democrat. 



The St. Louis Globe Demo- 
crat is among the papers 
which assisted the allied war- 
ships to reduce all — note all- 
the Darlanelles forts and 
made the momentous discov- 
ery that the gateway to Con- 
stantinople was open; that 
was some months ago. Doubtless this headline is kept standing 
and is used at frequent intervals. 

Perhaps the Globe Democrat's editors might be induced to 
make the trip through the Dardanelles on a warship flying the 
English or French flag, seeing that the forts are all reduced 
and the gateway open. And if the Allies will not put a warship 
at their disposal, we will gladly take up a popular subscription 
to charter a yacht to take said editors through the gateway to 
Constantinople, under the English or French flag. The Globe- 
Democrat belongs to the Pulitzer family of papers. 



204 



NEUTRALITY 




FORCING THE DARDANELLES. 



The colossal military and naval blunder, the cowardly retreat 
from; the Dardanelles on part of the allied forces, is past history. 
It has proved to the world the wonderful vitality, efficiency, and 
military genius of the rejuvenated Turkish Empire, the heroic 
valor and fighting qualities of the brave Turkish soldier and 
sailor. Military experts, naval strategists, laymen and civilians 
of all countries are simply "flabbergasted" at the pitiful sight 
of the stupidity and inefficiency of the strategic board of the 
combined English, French and Russian war offices — and strange 
to relate, that there are still people — particularly in America — 



NEUTRALITY 205 

who pretend to believe that the allies can win this war. "Wer's 
glaubt der wird selig." 

The above illustration shows another conception of the 
forcing of the Dardanelles, which comes nearer depicting the 
truth. 

The "liar of liars" has purposely been left last. This is 
the champion of all of them. It is so much ashamed of itself 
that it is continually blushing; hence its name. "Pinky," also 
known in the tenderloin of New York as the Evening Telegram 
and owned by Mr. James Gordon Bennett of Paris, France. 

This paper announces, among his many other jokes: 

GERMANY ENLISTS PRIVATEER FLEET; 
MAIL STEAMSHIPS SHELLED; ESCAPED 

RUSSIAN GUARDS WINS LONG FIGHT 



Again it says : 

NO PROTEST ON FLAG ISSUE ; 

GERMAN DESPAIR PROVED BY USE 
OF WOMEN AS SOLDIERS 



At the top we have an announcement of an extraordinary 
item of news. The Germans, it seems, have enlisted a privateer 
fleet. February 22nd is the date of this "atrocity," and in 
the months that have elapsed since then the German privateer 
fleet has been living a life of the strictest retirement. 

It is not presumable, however, that any of the habitues of 
Broadway, Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, between 28th 
and 50th Streets, New York, the only people who ever read the 
Evening Telegram, is endowed with memory or with spirit 
enough to question any of the ''pink un's" pronouncements. 
It will be noticed that another Russian victory is achieved in 
this issue. The result, presumably, was the usual advance 
toward the rear. 

It states further that the Germans are in despair. They 
are, according to Mr. Bennett, using women as soldiers. If it 
was German women who shortly after this won the battle at 
Neuve Chapelle, they are better fighters than the English suffra- 
gettes. 

These headlines are — as every New Yorker whose business 
calls him even occasionally to the Rialto knows — very mild 
examples of the headline art as practised on Pinkyk Square. 










CHAPTER LXVI 

"Amerika Ueber Alles." 

The "NEW YORKER 
STAATS - ZEITUNG," Ameri- 
ca's leading German paper, has 
been waging a valiant campaign 
for truth. Its English articles 
in "The "War From Day to 
Day" have attracted widespread 
attention for their cleverness, 
lucidity, accurate and expert 
discussions about the war. 

That the German element of 
our population has played a 
prominent part in promoting 
American progress and civiliza- 
tion is denoted by the fact that 
this influential German news- 
paper has existed and flourished 
in New York for four score 
years. 

The recent celebration of its 
eightieth anniversary by the 
"New Yorker Staats-i.eitung " reveals a success founded on the 
patronage of a large, thriving, capable, useful and progressive 
body of German reading people. But for these patrons the 
paper could not have become the prosperous disseminator of 
news or the powerful leader of opinion that it is. 

But it has deserved every particle of its prosperity, for it 
has aimed to bring about the highest development of German- 
American life and activity. Under the management of Mr. Her- 
man Ridder, who died recently, and his sons, the Staats-Zeitung 
has yearly made itself more worthy of approval and support by 
German-Americans. Besides being one of the ablest newspaper 
men in the country, Mr. Herman Ridder was a publicist of great 
ability and influence, and will not be forgotten soon. 

He was in the vanguard of those American citizens who 
believe in America first, first over Germany, but first also over 
England. He was a good fighter and he loved a good fight. 

206 







NEUTEALITY 



207 



Nevertheless, the abuse heaped upon the German name and the 
betrayal of the interests of the United States by the "Al-lies" 
press hastened his end. The torch that has fallen from his 
hand has been taken up by his sons. 



Vol. Ill, No. 5— September 8th, 1915 



Price 5 Cent* 



Fatherland 



AWeekly 



< t .u- Bat. U. S. Pm Of I 




Baying the Moon. 



THE FATHERLAND— This paper gains both momentum 
and popularity as the war progresses. 



208 



NEUTEALITY 




Mr. George Sylvester Viereck. 



Mr. George Sylvester Vier- 
eck, the famous editor of this 
paper, with the other editors 
of the Fatherland, were ex- 
posed to abuse and villifica- 
tion by American editors all 
over the country. Some tried 
to laugh the paper out of ex- 
istence, some endeavored to 
curtail its usefulness by 
vituperation. 

As The Fatherland gained 
in strength and support, and 
its columns became the me- 
dium through which some of 
the greatest thinkers in Eu- 
rope and America undertook 
to stem the tide of falsehood 
(it flourishes to the present 
day), efforts were made in Washington to find causes for sup- 
pressing the paper. 

Its fearlessness in attacking persons in responsible places 
soon became a thorn in the side of the English agents disburs- 
ing corruption funds right and left to create sentiment in favor 
of floating French, English and Russian war loans and to ship 
ammunition to the Allies. Their willing tools in the Capital be- 
gan "to look up the law" that would justify some course of 
action looking to the garroting of The Fatherland and the inter- 
ment of its editors for the duration of the war in some federal 
prison for seditious conduct. 

Their experience will make good reading in after years in 
connection with the history, showing the influence of the Ger- 
man-American element in the affairs of the United States, and 
future generations may ponder upon the political vagaries of 
an administration that seriously contemplated the arrest of 
American citizens for holding opinions not approved in govern- 
ment circles. 

The activity of The Fatherland extended in every direction. 
But for this American citizens handicapped with a German 
name might even be languishing in English concentration camps. 
Mr. Viereck has been a valiant and fearless champion of justice 



NEUTRALITY 



209 



for the Teutons and unfettered liberty for Americans. May his 
work live and prosper. 

The Vital Issue, now called ISSUES AND EVENTS, is 
another brilliant periodical in the English language devoted to 



ISSUES & EVENTS 

PUBLISHED WEEKLY 



Vol. III. No. 20 NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 13, 1915 FIVE CENTS 




MISS RAY BEVERIDGE 
A Victim of British Intrigue 



the cause of justice to the Teutons. The paper has been making 
a great fight for "fair play" for Germany. The cartoon shows 
John Bull trying to steal the Declaration of Independence out of 
Mr. Bryan's pocket. They appear to be having a very pleasant 
time. The above illustration gives a good picture of Miss Bev- 
eridge, an indefatigable worker in the German cause. 



210 



NEUTRALITY 




From VitRl Issii© 
John Bull Trying to Steal the Declaration of Independence. 









* « 

* * * 

* « 



3^n 23uU jitttttl 



Stifles MfgrriimtlGtgllf4r HSStafiaMc twtn Htl» 34.| trtft 

- *rt» ttmt; .s— - - 




THE GERMAN HEROLD is another lively and enterpris- 
ing German paper in New York City of wide circulation. 



gg &frlttjfryirgt c 



SCiliidcnrucfpfl Don mttipoli licgnnn! 

Jfotono" tDirde ytoornt — (o fltn lleScrlcBmbc in 9.Rolto! 

Sifti « jtn riidlm:a»n6^8iifl^»»^^^--;?w|ti«fWg 1 SitaiMilat 

51 ki g«B k. etti|i |i«. IS 8»I*hltt bail »B«[ In Ilk K?S=£=! c *l |m -'" , «"- ■**■'* 
lifrn etrlln. J s^c^^ir^ ttu- wtl tiftt. gm stftrtlgL 

M«lli« tMa fcW»lll feSSK» Umrtl an nu t Crftwl 



ax » i h ibii>» in »M i 







j^^jjjjpjgPj^jMgjjjQj^-fc^. — -j; ,.. ._*«—■ ^^ ^ — - i" *^ •■""■"X— ip i*>Mna««^' 



THE CHICAGO ABENDPOST. This leading German 
paper of the middle west has conducted a strong, unprejudiced 
and valiant fight for "Amerika first," and has in its sane, force- 
ful editorials conclusively proven how American interests are in 
common wth teutonic successes. 



CHAPTER LXVII 
Erin Go Bragh! 

The Gaelic American. 

ILLEGAL RECRUITING DONE IN 

BRITISH CONSULATE; ENGLAND 

WORRIED OVER CASEMENT'S WORK 



A great Irish- American newspaper giving its full sympathy 
and support to Germany. Normally, it is devoted to the cause 
of Irish independence ; now, it fights for Germany. In its strong, 
virile editorials it condemns England's cause and has repeat- 




KEWSPAPERS CONSPIRE TO P80V0KE A WOT 'Srlj&ju SvSS jSmEHJjSS 6MAT RtSd SfefiM K TERlACE S»K)EK 



>iB>iit> ,;- 















~*''-^--" ,; ~ '•— — 'iVSA»— J1~.S 



'•"** **'— •"**■ *«*"*^ 



■""^iisHHP 




edly stated that all reports from Ireland indicate that the re- 
cruiting in Ireland makes no progress; on the contrary, that 
Irish immigration to the United States increases, lest general 
conscription be introduced under the British flag. This paper 
has a nation-wide circulation, and has tremendous influence 
among its constituents in the United States. 

The headline says: " England Worried Over Casement's 
Work." The Casement affair created one of the greatest sen- 
sations in the diplomatic world. It proved once again to the 
entire civilized world that England, claiming to fight for 
"humanity," "liberty" and "civilization." is willing even to 
commit murder and assassination to secure her special brand 
of "culture." But, fortunately, the British plot to murder 
Sir Roger Casement failed. 

211 



212 NEUTRALITY 

As the daily press, particularly the "Al-lies" papers, failed 
to give this case the deserved publicity, it may not be amiss to 
re-tell the story here. 

Sir Roger Casement expected to leave Berlin in February, 
1915, for Christiana, Norway, to lay the proofs before the Nor- 
wegian Government of a conspiracy to capture and return him 
to England or kill him, the chief conspirator being Mansfield 
De. C. Findlay, the British Minister to Norway, who endeavored 
to bribe a servant in the employ of Sir Roger, one Adler A. 
Christenson, a Norwegian, who was to receive at least $25,000 
as a reward for his treachery and betrayal of his master, if suc- 
cessful. 

Sir Roger Casement has shown copies of the correspondence 
exposing the conspiracy to the German Foreign Office and pho- 
tographic copies were sent by Sir Roger to his friends on both 
sides of the Atlantic Ocean. He is regarded by the British Gov- 
ernment in exactly the same light as Robert Emmett and other 
patriots who were swung to their death from British scaffolds. 

If captured and brought to England this patriotic Irishman 
will be charged with high treason to the Crown and executed. 
Fearing that the difficulties of capturing him could not be sur- 
mounted, the British Minister to Norway instructed Christen- 
son to lure Sir Roger Casement to a point on the coast, where 
a British ship could run in and get him, "or, still better, knock 
him on the head." 

Announcement was officially made from the Berlin Foreign 
Office that the discovery of the conspiracy has been submitted 
to the American Ambassador and were sent to Secretary of State 
Bryan, at Washington. England must get rid of Casement at 
any cost, for he represents the true spirit of Irish nationality, 
which is the faith and hope of the sons and daughters of the 
Celts and Gaels throughout the world. 

The English spy system has been developed to an extraor- 
dinary degree. There are few pages of Irish history free from 
the sinister story of the spy and the informer. Where the sys- 
tem of paid spies fails, the lure of British gold to bribe the serv- 
ants of illustrious Irishmen to betray their masters is a com- 
mon occurrence in the history of the British Empire. The serv- 
ant of Sir Roger Casement proved incorruptible; otherwise an- 
other Irish patriot would have been destroyed. 

Speaking of assassins, it may be recorded that since August, 
1914, England, tJie past master of assassination, and her "sedu- 



NEUTEALITY 213 

lous ape" allies have, to their discredit, the following success- 
ful assassinations : 

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife; Jean Jaures, the 
French Socialist leader ; the Boer General, Delarey ; the Italian 
Foreign Minister, San Giuliano; King Carol of Roumania; the 
great Russian Count Witte; Dr. Costa, the Portuguese states- 
man. 

Attempted assassinations were as follows: Sir Roger Case- 
ment, envoy of the Irish Nationalists; King Constantine of 
Greece; Enver Pasha and Talaat Bey, leaders of the Young 
Turks. ... 

Quite a record for a Christian nation fighting for "cviiliza- 
tion," "freedom," "liberty" and the Cossack brand of "cul- 
ture!" But it is the same old England of 1776, of 1812, of the 
Crimean war, and of the rape of the Boer Republic ! Same old 
story ; same old John Bull. It is hard to make a silk purse out 
of a sow's ear. 

Another headline from the Gaelic American : 

GREAT MASS MEETING IN TERRACE GARDEN. 



It was the greatest outpouring of Irish- Americans New York 
has ever seen. It was a wonderful manifestation of our Irish 
citizens in favor of the Teuton cause. The New York Times 
felt very sore about this German meeting and headlined its re- 
port thus : 

"DIE WACHT AM RHEIN" SUNG TO THE IRISH. 



GERMAN CHOIR CROWDS CELTS OFF THE STAGE AT 
ANTI-REDMOND MEETING. 



It is very apparent that the object of this headline was to 
stir up resentment and hostile feeling which some unthinking 
Irishmen might have against the Germans. In other words, its 
object was to start a row, hoping that the Irish and Germans, 
who are fast coming together to secure justice, liberty and 
freedom, might be separated. Nobody present at that meeting 
could recall of having seen the Germans trying to crowd the 
Irish off the stage. 

As a matter of fact, a German choir had been requested to 
sing, and the speakers gave way until their song was finished. 
The speaker of the evening, Mr. Jeremiah A. O'Leary, an Irish- 
American, is a very successful lawyer in New York, an author 



214 



NEUTRALITY 




Mr. Jeremiah A. O'Leary, 
President of "The Ameri- 
can Truth Society." 



of note and a forceful orator. As 
president of the Truth Society, Mr. 
O'Leary is an ardent worker for the 
Irish cause, a fearless, devoted cham- 
pion of Germany in this struggle and 
an uncompromising American patriot, 
fighting with word and pen for 
American liberty from English dic- 
tation. 

THE IRISH WORLD is the oldest 
Irish-American newspaper in Amer- 
ica. Its sympathies are with Ger- 
many, and, although a supporter of 
John Redmond before the war, it has 
denounced him since for his treason 
to the highest ideals of the Irish race. 
The illustration shows a cartoon of 
"T~he Same Old John Bull" flogging 

















and beating with a knout, a gagged, poor, down-trodden, help- 
less Ireland ! 



CHAPTER LXVIII 
''If You See It In the Sun It's So." 

"BRITISH BEGIN CAMPAIGN FOR WORLD'S TRADE," 

says the New York Sun, in one of its lucid and honest 
moments, proving that it can occasionally tell the truth. It 
announces the fact that the British have begun a campaign for 
world trade. This perhaps furnishes a little light upon the 
cause of the European war. Their present conflict with the 
United States is an indication that they have taken advantage 
of the situation to grab all they can get. 

Upon this point it may prove of interest to interject another 
little sidelight of Jefferson's mind upon British trade propen- 
sities. This is from a letter written to John Jacob Astor, who 
founded the American fur trade in the northwest. Jefferson 
writes: "It would be an afflicting thing, indeed, should the 
British be able to break up your settlement. Their bigotry to 
the bastard liberty of their own country and habitual fertility 
of every form of freedom in any other would induce the at- 
tempt. They would not lose the price of a bale of fur for the 
liberty of the whole world." 

This well-founded statement of our immortal Jefferson and 
Great Britain's recent activities during this war towards our 
commerce ought to have a very decisive influence upon our 
government when entering into new commercial treaties and 
alliances with England, because, as Jefferson states it jepeat- 
edly: "In spite of treaties England is still our enemy!' 3 

SEES WORLD PEACE ONLY IF 

UNITED STATES JOINS ENGLAND 



This also from the New York Sun, showing how some Ameri- 
can papers are permitting British publicists to use their col- 
umns for the purpose of carrying on an infamous campaign 
in American public opinion which would make it easy for the 
United States to join England in the present war. This is one 
of a series of articles written by Harold Begbie, an English 
literary hack and bitter German hater. This insidious work 
about the United States joining England has been going on 
for some time in this country, promoted and fostered by ^sucn 
men as Carnegie, Hammond, Eliot, Gompers, Morgan, Choate, 

215 



216 NEUTRALITY 

Depew, Root, Reid of the Tribune, and others of the same ilk. 
"Great Americans" they are all called, and in reality, in their 
sentiments, they are more British than the British themselves. 
They constituted themselves to execute the will and testament 
of the late Cecil Rhodes, named the "Great Empire Builder." 

It is well known that Cecil Rhodes left in his testament 
a legacy devoted : 

"To and for the establishment, promotion and development 
of a secret society the true aim of which and object whereof 
shall be the extension of British rule throughout the world; 
the perfecting of a system of emigration from the United King- 
dom and of colonization by British subjects of all lands where 
the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labor and en- 
terprise, and especially the occupation by British settlers of 
the entire continent of Africa, the Holy Land, the Valley of 
the Euphrates, the Islands of Cyprus and Canada, the whole 
of South America, the Islands of the Pacific not heretofore pos- 
sessed by Great Britain; the whole of the Malay Archipelago, 
the seaboard of China and Japan; THE ULTIMATE RECOV- 
ERY OF THE UNITED SfATES OF AMERICA AS AN 
INTEGRAL PART OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE; the inau- 
guration of a system of colonial representation in the Imperial 
Parliament which may tend to weld together the disjointed 
members of the EMPIRE, and finally the FOUNDATION OF 
SO GREAT A POWER AS TO HEREAFTER RENDER 
WARS IMPOSSIBLE AND PROMOTE THE BEST INTER- 
ESTS OF HUMANITY." 

In other words, after she owns the whole earth, she will con- 
descend to let us have peace, but not until then! 

CHAPTER LXIX 
Not Yet, But— 

That some of the compatriots of Cecil Rhodes, of Choate, 
of Morgan, of Root, of the Reids have not failed to profit by 
the spirit and advice of the above legacy is manifested by the 
trade announcement in the illustration. It says: "For the 
Colonies the 'Allenbury Foods'— South Africa, UNITED 
STATES, Australia, Canada." 

This is an advertisement taken from The Chemist and 
Druggist, a British publication of January 30, 1915, in the 
year of the independence of the United States, the one hun- 



NEUTRALITY 



217 



dred and thirty-ninth. Note how the advertiser announces sail- 
ings to the Colonies, in which he includes the United States of 
America. Let the Administration contemplate this picture and 
sorrowfully think of those happy days when the United States 
was a free and independent nation. 

Our government is trying its very best to carry out the 
testament of Sir Cecil Rhodes and our "Al-lies" papers, with 
the Sun, the Times and the Tribune as leaders, who are always 
willing to lend their columns for the discussion of an event- 




THE UNITED STATES AS A BRITISH COLONY. 



218 NEUTEALITY 

uality where the United States may become an integral part of 
the British Empire. Incidentally, may be mentioned here that 
the London Daily Mail, commonly called the " Daily Liar," Lord 
Northcliff 's paper, was founded with money furnished by Cecil 
Rhodes. . . . 

Some of our conservative " Anglo-Saxons " have attempted 
to disparage the standing of Jefferson by the statement that 
he was a ' ' radical. ' ' According to these elements of our people, 
if a house is on fire we should not inform the occupants. If 
burglars are in a building, we shoulcTnot spread an alarm. But 
it was Patrick Henry who sounded the better American doctrine 
that, " Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." It might be 
observed here in passing that if British conservatism had pre- 
vailed in the American Eevolution, the United States would 
now be a British dependency. 

CHAPTER LXX 

Editor Jefferson. 

Some suggestions which have been made by Thomas Jeffer- 
son in regard to certain newspapers, blaming also the readers 
for supporting such papers, are very timely today. Jefferson 
says: 

" Perhaps an editor might begin a reformation in some way 
as this : Divide his paper into four chapters, heading the first 
TrutJi; second, Probabilities; third, Possibilities, and fourth, 
Lies. The first chapter would be very short, as it would contain 
little more than authentic papers and information from such 
sources as the editor would be willing to risk his own reputa- 
tion for their truth. The second would contain what, from a 
mature consideration of all circumstances, his judgment should 
conclude to be probably true. This, however, should rather con- 
tain too little than too much The third and fourth should be 
professedly for those readers who would rather have lies for 
their money than the blank paper they would occupy. 

"Such an editor, too, would have to set his face against the 
demoralizing practice of feeding the public mind habitually 
on slander, and the depravity of taste which this nauseous ail- 
ment induces. Defamation is becoming a necessity of life, inso- 
much that a dish of tea in the morning or evening cannot be 
digested without this stimulant. Even those who do not believe 
these abominations, still read them with complaisance to their 



NEUTRALITY 219 

auditors, and instead of the abhorrence and indignation which 
should fill a virtuous mind, betray a secret pleasure in the pos- 
sibility that some may believe them, though they do not them- 
selves. It seems to escape them that it is not Tie who prints hut 
he who pays for printing a slander, who is its real author." 

This suggestion is just as timely today as it was when Jef- 
ferson wrote it, and if the modern reader would only take the 
hint and act accordingly, many a newspaper would have to go 
out of business and its editor and proprietor be relegated to the 
farm or to the bench where he belongs, instead of trying to 
mould public opinion as a newspaper editor, for which post he 
does not possess the intellect and knowledge. 

The world has never seen as much lying as is going on today 
in the press of the United States ; nor such bitterness and cal- 
umny. If the whole matter were not so terribly serious, it would 
really be comical how naively, not only the yellow press, but 
even papers that consider and style themselves serious and 
intelligent, reprint the most ridiculous news items, pictures, 
cartoons ; and how heedlessly and stupidly they jump at conclu- 
sions. The headlines have fully proven this contention. One 
must admit that they look silly in view of what Germans did 
really accomplish. How different the German reports; short, 
precise, to the point and, what's supreme in the\m f they contain 
the truth. Not one single item came from Germany, not one 
single war report in the last twenty months, which was not true, 
which was not justified and substantiated by the real events 
following. Lord Loreburne, a prominent member of the Eng- 
lish Parliament, had to admit himself this fact. And if you ask 
why, it's because of the many noble qualifications and manly 
traits the Germans possess, one is particularly characteristic, 
and that is, that the Germans are not liars. ^ 

They consider a lie not clever hut ignominious. 

Quite a humorous verification of these above statements 
is a little piece of verse published in The Scoop, the offi- 
cial organ of the Chicago Press club. It humorously but aptly 
characterizes the way the American papers received the news 
from the different war zones. The verses read as follows : 

The German soldiers, strenuous men, 

In peace and War and thunders, 
Have not been killed by French or Russ, 

But by newspaper blunders. 
Ten thousand they must die a day 

(They cut such funny capers) ; "• 



220 NEUTBALITY 

They do not die from cannon balls, 
But from big wads of papers. 

Ten thousand dying day and night, 
According to the guesses — 

They dip them all in printer's ink, 
And squeeze them in the presses. 

Five million Germans in the war, 

With officers and chattels, 
What will the press soon do for men 

To fight the German battles? 
The German, every inch a man, 

Is doing some good walking, 
He's fighting now to beat the band, 

And lets us do the talking. 
Now news comes flying through the air,- 

Although they've cut the cables, 
The Germans found the wireless, 

And that has turned the tables. 



CHAPTER LXXI 
Sentimental Dr. Eliot. 

Another humorous side in this serious crisis of Europe man- 
ifested itself in the attitude of some of our public and scientific 
men. Dr. Eliot, ex-president of Harvard University, for in- 
stance, from whom one may expect a little intelligence and 
knowledge of history, is very bitter in his denunciation of the 
Germans until he is confronted with facts. This aesthetic gentle- 
man who dislikes football games on account of their roughness 
does not hesitate, according to newspaper reports, to declare 
from a public platform that, should the Allies need and ask the 
help of this country, it would at once become our "sentimental" 
duty to throw in our lot with them. 

Sentimental Dr. Eliot! One might just as well look for 
sentimentality in a codfish. Considering that what he calls ' ' his 
sentimental duty" is nothing but silly rot, his utterances are 
impudent, highly offensive, and scandalous. The humor of the 
attitude of this self-appointed dictator of public opinion is the 
fact, though, that being a witness at one of the sessions of the 
Federal Industrial Relations Commission, and asked by the 
chairman what he thinks of certain economical and sociological 
institutions of Germany in comparison with ours, "Sentimental" 
Eliot said: "The Germans are very much ahead of us. They 
seem to have started first and everything they have done is, from 



NEUTRALITY 



221 



a business as well as humanitarian standpoint, the best." Par- 
ticularly refers this sentimental Dr. Eliot to accident insurance 
and workingmen's compensation act, and the many other 
activies of German genii in the fields of industry, commerce, sci- 
ence, art and literature. 

This statement of the feeble ex-president of Harvard, who 
in 1913 praised German civilization to the skies and in 1914 
fairly challenged the laurels of a Billingsgate fishwife or that 
of his crony, the " great" T. R., in denouncing Germany, was 
the more surprising as his utterances, public and private, in 
word and print, betrayed an uncommon, virile denunciation of 
the German Emperor and the German nation, and no greater 
champion of England's cause than Dr. Eliot could be mustered 
out in this country. It ought to interest the average American 
reader to see and read for himself Dr. Eliot in his ' 'Janus" 
like doublefacedness, of which a few illustrations are given 
below : 



ELIOT IN 1913. 

From an address delivered by 
Charles W. Eliot at the dinner of the 
German Publication Society, May 9, 
1913, New York. Published by the 
Irving Press, New York: 

"Two great doctrines which had 
sprung from the German Protestant 
Reformation had been developed by 
Germans from seed then planted in 
Germany. The first was the doctrine 
of universal education, developed 
from the Protestant conception of in- 
dividual responsibility, and the sec- 
ond was the great doctrine of civil 
liberty, liberty in industries, in so- 
ciety, in government, liberty with or- 
der under law. These two principles 
took their rise in Protestant Ger- 
many ; and America has been the 
greatest beneficiary of that noble 
teaching:. 

"The Teutonic peoples set a higher 
value on truth in sp&ech, thought, and 
action than any other people. They 
love truth; they seek it; thev woo it. 
They respect the man who speaks and 
acts the truth even to his own injury. 
The English Bacon said of truth: 'It 
is the sovereign good of human na- 
ture.' That is what all the Teutonic 
people believe. They want to found 
their action on fact, not fancy ; on the 
truth, the demonstrated truth, not on 
imaginations. I say that there is a 
fine bond of union, a real likeness of 
spirit, a community in devotion and 
worship among all the Teutonic peo- 
ples." 



ELIOT IN 1915. 

From the book, "The Road 
Toward Peace, ' ' by Charles W. 
Eliot. Houghton Mifflin Com- 
pany, Boston and New York : 

Liberty. 

"The Government of Ger- 
many is the most autocratic in 
Europe. The German people 
do not know what political and 
social liberty is. They have no 
conception of such liberty as 
we enjoy. . . . The civil- 
ized world can now see where 
the new German morality be 
efficient, be virile, be hard, be 
bloody, be rulers— would land 
it. Germans do not know how 
free peoples regard the sanc- 
tity of contract, not only for 
business purposes, but for 
political purposes, to say noth- 
ing of honorable obligation. ■ ' 



222 NEUTRALITY 

Intelligent Americans will draw their own conclusions from 
the above excerpts of the writings of the sentimental doctor. No 
comments are necessary except the declaration that a man, par- 
ticularly of the standing of this college professor, who blows one 
day hot and the next day cold, is an idiot. Sapienti sat ! 



CHAPTER LXXII 

Dr. Constantin Theodor Duinba. 

The case of the late Austro-Hungarian Ambassador, Dr. 
Dumba, created quite a heated discussion in our press. The 
"Al-lies" yelled themselves hoarse in their wild cry that the 
Austro-Hungarian Ambassador at Washington has been guilty 
of "a monstrous crime." What this crime is no one seems to 
know. At any rate, the New York World has published some 
letters of Dr. Dumba and these letters clearly reveal that Dr. 
Dumba was "not neutral." It appears that the Ambassador was 
very " pro- Austrian." This attitude of his had shocked the Tory 
press of the land tremendously. 

The pirated correspondence of Dr. Constantin T. Dumba, 
reprinted with such relish by the New York World, greatly 
reflects to the credit of that excellent diplomat. It is monstrous 
to think that many Austro-Hungarians, either unwittingly or 
compelled by dire need, should be forging weapons of death in 
American factories against their own brethren at home. These 
unfortunates are guilty not only of fratricide, morally, but of 
treason, legally, if they are still citizens of the dual monarchy. 
They forfeit forever the opportunity of returning to their native 
land even for a visit; they also forfeit whatever property they 
may hold or inherit in Austria-Hungary. 

Germany has not only warned her citizens against the com- 
mittal of such a crime, but she has established a bureau where 
her sons who find themselves in such a tragic predicament may 
seek both aid and advice. Dr. Dumba 's project for organizing 
a similar welfare bureau, according to the advice of the highest 
legal authorities, was entirely within his rights ; in fact, it was 
unquestionably his duty. The New York press has lost the last 
vestige of shame attacking Dr. Dumba on this account. Since 
when is it a crime to prevent the commission of a crime ? Since 
when is it wrong to save a man from staining his hands with 
the blood of his brothers ? 




DR. CONSTANTIN THEODOR DUMBA. 



NEUTEALITY 223 

"Where is the man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 
This is my own, native land." 

Our government's attitude was utterly unreasonable and ut- 
terly unjust. The criminal code of the United States threatens 
with prosecution all American citizens who in time of war aid 
or abet the enemy either in the United States or elsewhere. If 
the United States were at war with Japan, American mechanics 
working in Austrian ammunition plants manufacturing war sup- 
plies for the enemy of their country would be guilty of treason. 
It would be the duty of the American Ambassador to call their 
attention to their offense. No American Ambassador worth his 
salt would refuse to obey his duty, even at the risk of being per- 
sona non grata at the court of Vienna. Dr. Dumba has done no 
more than an American Ambassador would have done in a 
parallel case. He appealed solely to Austro-Hungarian citizens ; 
he did not appeal to American citizens. Austria, unlike France 
and Italy and Mr. Lansing, does not recognize the principle of 
dual allegiance. 

Dr. Dumba has done no wrong; he merely made a suggestion 
to his government. If the Ambassador had attempted to foment 
a strike, the United States would have been justified in stepping 
in, but his communication to his own government should be re- 
garded as privileged. 

While Dr. Dumba merely submitted a theoretical brief to his 
Government, Sir Cecil Spring-Rice has actually, through Sir 
Richard Crawford and other agents, hampered the industries 
of our country. Yet Dr. Dumba was given his passports while 
Sir Cecil may continue to abuse American hospitality and to con- 
spire against the prosperity of our country. Is there any man 
with red blood in his veins who blames Dr. Dumba for his desire 
to interfere with the shipment of death-dealing implements to 
the enemies of his country? 



CHAPTER LXXIII 
Journalism a la "Mud." 

The mud-throwing utterances of one newspaper to the detri- 
ment of the other as practised during this war cast a very sad 
and lamentable light upon the character of our press. The ever 
alert periodical, The Fatherland, allows itself some very char- 
acteristic reflections in regard to the working form of one of our 
newspapers in an article entitled, "Journalism a la Mode." It 
says: 

"New York newspapers are following the example of Henry 
Ford in giving employment to ex-convicts. If one can judge 
by recent events all of the second-story men and pickpockets who 
have been recently released from prison are on the payrolls of 
the metropolitan dailies. 

' ' One can imagine the following command being given by the 
city editor: 

" 'I want all you second-story men to go up to the Fritz- 
Carlton. You know who's up there, don't you? Sure, Bern- 
storff and his gang. I want you to wait until you're sure they're 
out of their rooms. Then you're to jimmy your way into the 
rooms break into trunks and bureau drawers and take all pa- 
pers and private correspondence which you think will be of in- 
terest to our readers. And don't you report back here until you 
get those papers, do you hear ? All right, beat it. ' 

' l Calling the light-fingered gentry to the desk, the city editor 
gives the following order : 

" 'I want you dips to catch the eleven o'clock train for 
Lenox, Mass. Attaches of the Austrian embassy are summering 
there. I want you to mingle in the crowd at the horse show up 
there this afternoon, and get next to that embassy bunch. 
They're carrying some important correspondence in their pock- 
ets which will be of interest to our readers. Don't report back 
here until you get those letters. If necessary, waylay them. ' 

"The City Editor musing: 'That was a great idea of the 
boss in hiring those jail birds. Since they've been with us our 
circulation has jumped 50,000.' " 

Hounded by such newspapers Dr. Dumba left Washington, 
but his sacrifice will not be in vain. His departure has concen- 
trated the attention of the world upon the infamy of our con- 
duct. It has opened the eyes of Austro-Hungarians in our mu- 

224 



NEUTEALITY 225 

nition plants to the enormity of their offense. History will 
judge between Dr. Dumba and those who are driving him out. 
The verdict will not be against Jtim! 

CHAPTER LXXIV 
Americans First and Last. 

In conclusion, let it be emphasized and reiterated with all the 
power that these words can convey that whether German- Aus- 
trian or Hungarian- Americans they are Americans first and 
last! Far better Americans than those who are selling out 
the independence of this country to Great Britain. The Mor- 
gans, the Pages, the Lodges, the Eliots, the Putnams, the Col- 
liers, the Choates, etc., who are doing what they can, as the 
servile tools of England, to enthrone Eussia and Japan upon 
the ruins of German civilization. They are betraying the United 
States by doing what they can to bring the "Yellow Peril" upon 
us. They are doing what they can to erect Russia into a still 
mightier Colossus. 

They followed the same tactics when England destroyed the 
Dutch republic in South Africa. But for our supplies, our guns, 
our mules and the recruiting in American ports, by British army 
officers, the Boers would never have been conquered. Their ruin 
is upon our heads. 

Senator Hale protested in the Senate. He was told to have 
a care. "Has it come to this, that the word liberty may no 
longer be uttered in the halls of Congress save in a whisper?" 
asked the Maine Senator. These degenerate Americans are 
bending their necks in meek humility while English warships 
are blockading our harbors, searching neutral ships for Amer- 
ican cargoes, seizing American citizens and placing them in 
jeopardy of their lives. We repeat : For very little more than 
this we went to war with England in 1812. 

They are not neutrals. They are the secret allies of England 
and Japan. And we believe this to be a betrayal of the United 
States, a crime against humanity, a stain upon civilization. 

They are prolonging the war. The death and blood of thou- 
sands of young Germans and Austro-Hungarians, Bulgars and 
Turks will be upon these men and the men building submarines 
and casting guns for the Allies. 

Every nation in war has the right to crush the spirit of its 
enemy and starve it into submission if it can. We are denying 



226 NEUTKALITY 

this right to Germany, for we are sending food, arms, ammuni- 
tion, money — in fact, everything, by the shipload to the enemies 
of Germany in order that they may go on fighting and killing. 
It is exactly what England proposed to do in onr Civil War, 
out of sympathy for the South, and the offer was indignantly re- 
jected by Secretary Seward. 

No American, native or adopted, who loves his country should 
allow himself to be intimidated by our unneutral press. The ad- 
ministration at Washington is not a divine institution and must 
go in good time, as the Roosevelt regime went, unless it strikes 
into paths of true neutrality. We will not see our country 
dragged into a murderous war for the benefit of Morgan and his 
entourage. We will not only protest, but will plainly tell the 
politicians and our government officials that we will not submit 
quietly to having our patriotism impugned without calling to 
political account the men who have the power to stop this agita- 
tion against citizens of German, Austro-Hungarian blood — 
citizens whose forefathers fought and died for the preservation 
of our institutions, while the English element sought the con- 
genial shelter of Canada in every crisis that called for manhood. 

Patriotic, right-thinking Americans, whether native or adopt- 
ed, want PEACE, not war ! 

For war, that is what J. Pierpont Morgan wished when he 
appointed himself Britain's war agent. That is what his asso- 
ciates in the Money Trust wished, and their cringing satellites 
in Wall Street, who feed upon their crumbs. That is what the 
war-mad British bankers in Wall Street wished, and the pro- 
British editors and writers with their poisoned pens. It is what 
William E. Corey, of the Steel Trust, wished when he came back 
from his home in France and cried for war ; it is what Otto T. 
Bannard of the New York Trust Company wished when he went 
to London and said that the "President must take radical 
steps ;" it was what James Gordon Bennett wished when he 
cabled from his home in Paris, urging mob attacks upon men of 
German blood ; it is what Adolph S. Ochs wishes, when he incites 
race hatred in his sheet, ruled by the Money Trust; it is what 
Mr. Choate wishes when he welcomes the representatives of all 
the black and yellow races and bids them " welcome 7 ' to our 
shores, at the entrance of which Liberty is enlightening the 
world. 

We oppose the participation of our beloved America in the 
European war on the side of any of the belligerents ; we oppose 
the truckling of our nation's official servants to any foreign 



NEUTRALITY 227 

power ; we refuse to sanction the prolongation of the European 
slaughter by American aid, financial or otherwise; we believe 
America should keep her hands off in this present war and there- 
by become an example for the world to follow; we are opposed to 
American institutions becoming anglicized— we want America to 
be America and we insist that American truths be taught Amer- 
ican children without regard to the insidious influences of the ill- 
gotten money of any Anglo-maniac, whether it be the money of 
a Rhodes, a Carnegie or a Morgan. 

FAIR MINDED, PATRIOTIC, TRUE AMERICANS PRO- 
TEST AGAINST THE CRUCIFIXION OF PUBLIC OPIN- 
ION BY AN UNNEUTRAL AND UN AMERICAN PRESS. 

We demand that an end be put to all this. We demand that 
American neutrality shall mean what it says. We demand, above 
all, that the United States cut loose from the leading strings of 
Great Britain. We demand an embargo on the exportation of all 
arms and ammunition. We demand as American citizens that 
no fellow human beings should be slaughtered with powder 
and ball manufactured in this country and killed in flagrant de- 
fiance of our boasted neutrality under a shifty construction of 
those laws of a higher humanity which are called the laws oi 
justice and fair play. 



-END- 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: ^ 2001 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 1 6066 
(724) 779-2111 



